
OassJR\_ii2- 
Book_.J^£ 



AN INQUIRY 



INTO THE 



SCRIPTURAL AUTHORITY 



FOR 



social Worship : 



WITH 

OBSERVATIONS ON ITS REASONABLENESS 
AND UTILITY ; 

AND 
AN ACCOUNT OF THE MANNER IN WHICH THE 
RELIGIOUS SERVICES OF THE TEMPLE AT 
JERUSALEM, AND OF THE SYNA- 
GOGUE, WERE CONDUCTED IN 
THE TIME OF CHRIST. 



By THOMAS MOORE, 



LONDON: 

PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR. 

SOLD BY R. HUNTER, 72, ST. PAUL'S CHURCH-YARD ; AND 
DAVID EATON, 187, HIGH-HOLBORN. 

1821. 






PRINTED BY R. AND A. TAYLOR, 
SHOE-LANE, LONDON. 




ADVERTISEMENT. 



JL HE following Treatise originated in the 
expression of some doubts respecting the 
authority derived from the Scriptures for 
Social Worship by individuals whom the 
Writer knew to be persons of real integrity 
and conscientious Christians ; doubts which 
were occasioned by recent publications on 
the subject. It consists of the substance of 
three Sermons, designed chiefly to afford 
those who heard them the means of forming 
a correct judgement concerning the degree 
of encouragement given to this practice bjr 
the Xew Testament especially: the result of 
the investigation necessary for this purpose 
was increased surprise that any dispute should 
ever have arisen on the subject. Several 
friends were of opinion that this little work is 
calculatedto be useful; and it is in conformity 
with their advice that it is now published. 
Though there is not the slightest probability 
that any efforts to restrain the exercise of our 



IV ADVERTISEMENT. 

social affections and capacities in rendering 
united homage to the supreme and universal 
Benefactor, will ever be followed by exten- 
sive and permanent effects, yet as far as they 
do succeed, the advocates for public wor- 
ship cannot but consider them as highly in- 
jurious, since they appear to strike at the 
root of the influence of religion on society 
at large. The well known maxim iC obsta 
principiis" holds good in religion and morals 
not less than in medicine ; and, however 
limited may be the probable extension of what 
appears to us to be pernicious error, strenu- 
ous and persevering exertions in any cause 
will usually obtain considerable success. To 
throw what check we can, therefore, upon the 
early progress of such error, is an attempt the 
design of which at least will meet with ap- 
probation. Others have written with great 
ability in defence of social worship ; but a 
new publication on the subject, occasioned 
by new circumstances, may possibly be read 
by some individuals to whom it may be use- 
ful, when the former, whatever be their me- 
rits, are laid aside. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Definitions ...... 1 

Social Worship the universal Practice of Chris- 
tians .... - . - 3 

Reasonableness of Social Worship ... 9 

Its Utility 16 

The Practice of the Jews under the Mosaic Dis- 
pensation . og 
The religious Services of the Temple in the Time 

of Christ 44 

Sacrifices - - - - - » -.« 47 

Public Prayers ...... 43 

Music of the Temple Service - - . - 54 
The religious Worship of the Synagogue in the 
Time of Christ ...... 6C 

The Manner in which the religious Worship of 

the ancient Synagogue was conducted - . SO 

Passages in the New Testament in favour of Social 

Prayer 89 

The Practice of Christians immediately after the 
Apostolic Age - -- - . -133 

The Resemblance between the Services of the first 
Christian Assemblies and those of the ancient 
Synagogue - - . . . -136 

Conclusion ....... 143 

b 



AN INQUIRY 

INTO THE 

SANCTION GIVEN BY THE SCRIPTURES 

TO 

Social W&qx&Up : 



CHAPTER I. 



Arguments from Reason in favour of 
Social Worship. 

SECTION L 
Explanations. The universal Practice of Christians. 

WORSHIP is reverence, homage, adoration, 
in whatever way expressed. It has a civil as well 
as religious application, or is used to denote the 
honour rendered either to man or his Creator. 
Its former signification is now become in a great 
measure obsolete, and the use of it is preserved 
only by ancient institutions; but, being common 
in the time when the authorized version of the 
Scriptures was made, it occurs repeatedly in that 

B 



2 EXPLANATIONS. 

translation, as in Matth. ix. 18, xviii. 26, Luke 
xiv. 10 a , and Acts x. 25. In its relig-ious sense 
it is applied very generally to any external ho- 
mage rendered to God, as in Matth. iv. 9 and 10 ; 
and as in John iv. 21 — -24, to the union of ex- 
ternal homage with the genuine spirit of de- 
votion by which all religious services that are 
acceptable to Him, must be accompanied. In 
1 Chron. xxix. 20, it is used in both its mean- 
ings; "And all the congregation blessed the Lord 
God of their fathers, and bowed down their heads, 
and worshiped the Lord and the king." 

It is observable however, that in its religious 
application this word is used in the Scriptures 
most commonly to express that divine adoration 
which is public and social b . 

Worship is the generic term ; Prayer is a spe- 
cific mode of religious homage, and in its more 
extended sense includes adoration, thanksgiving, 
confession and petition ; but its strict and proper 
signification is limited to the latter : it is more- 

a Though the original word in the last of these three pas- 
sages is very different from that which occurs in the two for- 
mer, the translators have rendered it worship, as at that time 
expressing the meaning of it with sufficient clearness : <e Then 
shalt thou have worship (honour) in the presence of them that 
sit at meat with thee." 

b In the law of Moses there are no directions respecting 
prayer ; but the ancient as well as modern Jews, according to 
Maimonides, understood the command (Deut. x. 12) "Thou 
shalt worship the Lord thy God, &c." to signify prayer, inclu- 
ding adoration, praise and supplication. See Vitringa de Syn. 
Vet. lib. iii. pars ii. cap. xiv. pag. 1031 ; and Seidell's Works, 
vol. i. lib. iii. cap. iii. pag. 286. 



EXPLANATIONS. O 

over remarkable, that the prayers recorded in the 
Scriptures, and particularly the Lord's prayer, 
consist chiefly of petition. 

Prayer may be divided into mental and oral, 
Oral prayer, or the uttering of the devout sen* 
timents of the mind aloud, may indeed be pri- 
vate ; but, as the nature of it implies, it is usually 
social. 

In the following pages we are to inquire, Whe- 
ther or not the practice of social prayer is deci- 
dedly sanctioned by the Scriptures, and particu- 
larly those of the New Testament. That it is, 
to me appears unquestionable ; and such has uni- 
formly been the opinion of the great body of 
Christian professors in all ages. From the time 
of the apostles to the present day; among those 
who have been taught in the school of Christ, 
whatever form of church government and reli- 
gious discipline they may have adopted, or what- 
ever systems of doctrine they may have received 
as true ; whether Episcopalians, Presbyterians, 
Independents, or Baptists; whether Trinitarians 
or Unitarians, Arians, Socinians, Sabellians, Lu- 
therans, or Calvinists; of whatever name or de- 
nomination ; among them all, social prayer has uni- 
versally prevailed. This is one of those subjects 
respecting which there has been the least contro- 
versy. Upon other points of faith and practice, 
in a great majority of instances, relative to the 
Christian religion, the most violent and perpe- 
tual contentions have arisen, of which some have 
b 2 



4 UNIVERSAL PRACTICE OF CHRISTIANS- 

issued in persecutions but little inferior in bitter- 
ness and ferocity to those by which the progress 
of Christianity was at first marked in lines of 
blood by Pagan jealousy and superstition; nor 
can perfect, absolute uniformity of opinion, on any 
topic of discussion, be expected, whilst human 
nature remains what it is. But here, amongst 
those who have been the most intrepid opponents 
of the established systems of the day, as well 
as the advocates of those systems themselves, 
through all the contentions by which the Chris- 
tian world has been agitated from the beginning, 
there has been, and is still, as near an approach 
to unanimity as the history of ecclesiastical affairs 
can supply. The practice of social prayer has 
been as general as the belief in a providence, the 
resurrection of the dead, and the final judgement 
of the world. — How is this circumstance to be 
accounted for? 

Reasoning upon a principle universally ad- 
mitted, where is the cause of this great, exten- 
sive, and permanent effect among Christians of 
every name, if social prayer receive no sanction 
from the religion of Jesus Christ? How comes it 
to pass, that all parties of Christians, however 
wide have been their differences on other subjects, 
and however bitter their animosities, have agreed 
here in so far mistaking the nature of their Mas- 
ter's instructions, and the design of his religion, 
as to adopt universally a practice which he him- 
self disapproved, if he did not absolutely forbid? 



UNIVERSAL, PRACTICE OF CHRISTIANS. D 

The corruptions of Christianity have all been 
traced to their sources, and their progress has 
been described with sufficient correctness; but 
where is the origin of social worship among the 
followers of Christ, if it be not found in the Scrip- 
tures, and how can the history of its progress be 
separated from that of the Christian religion ? 

We know, indeed, it has lately been affirmed — 
and but lately by professed Christians — that all 
this mischief, as it is considered, is to be attri- 
buted to priestcraft; to the more than magic in- 
fluence of hireling, ambitious, designing, hypo- 
critical, interested, bigoted, fanatical priests, 
who, if public worship, or social prayer, were not 
in use, would lose the craft from which their g;ains 
are extracted; but who, as ecclesiastical affairs 
are now managed, make a trade of religion suffi- 
ciently profitable. Bat what does this supposi- 
tion imply ? In the first place, that men who pos- 
sess superior means of moral and intellectual im- 
provement, and who, generally at least, are in 
the habit of making considerable use of the ad- 
vantages which they enjoy; who are consequent- 
ly distinguished above other classes of the com- 
munity by their mental acquisitions ; whose 
stated occupation moreover is calculated to em- 
ploy their attention constantly on the nature and 
obligations of moral and religious duties, and who 
are therefore usually allowed to possess habits of 
general integrity; — that these men, thus gifted and 
thus distinguished by religious advantages and in- 



6 UNIVERSAL PRACTICE OF CHRISTIANS. 

tellectual endowments, many of whom also deserv- 
edly hold the highest stations in the scientific and 
literary world, in this instance conspire to render 
themselves deserving of universal abhorrence and 
contempt by practising the grossest of all imposi- 
tions on mankind ; by assuming the profession of 
religion in its most sacred form, as a cloak to cover 
the basest of purposes, which in comparatively 
few instances can have any rational hope of suc- 
cess, in a worldly view, worth regarding. Even 
among the ministers of " the church established by 
law/' the number is a minority, who can have any 
well grounded hope of really bettering their tem- 
poral circumstances by assuming an office direct- 
ly opposed to every thing that is hypocritical and 
sordid. And among Dissenters, the opponents 
of the established systems of faith and discipline, 
who is there that does not know, that of all 
schemes for worldly advancement, that of assu- 
ming the office of religious teacher is one of the 
most hopeless ? How few are the instances of the 
profits of the profession affording a compensation 
at all adequate to the labour and talents that are 
necessary to success ! If there be instances of this 
kind, so limited is their number as to supply no 
motive sufficiently powerful to influence the con- 
duct of men possessing common discernment and 
common discretion. And for the great body of 
dissenting ministers, who is so ignorant of their 
situation as not to admit, that there is not the 
slightest prospect of temporal emolument and 



UNIVERSAL PRACTICE OF CHRISTIANS, 7 

worldly gain from their employment? Who can 
doubt, that, whilst the same abilities and the same 
industry exerted in other professions, or in trade 
and commerce, would be productive of far more 
comfortable and even independent circumstances, 
a large proportion of them devote their lives, if not 
to penury and distress, at least to the miseries of 
dependence ; and dependence too of the worst 
kind; the dependence of one, whose office and 
education ought to render him the superior, upon 
many, whose limited knowledge and variety of 
tempers, prejudices, interests and failings, will 
frequently render his situation in a worldly view 
truly deplorable ? Such then are the allurements 
which are held out to men of sense as the barter 
for conscience, — the pay for the prostitution of 
their principles and their talents, whatever they 
may be. It is for this that persons who have 
greatly superior advantages for intellectual and 
religious improvement, and whose habits are ne- 
cessarily on the side of morality, are supposed by 
the imputation to render themselves the basest of 
characters, and by the constant practice of reli- 
gious imposition to become as despicable for their 
weakness and folly as for their total want of in- 
tegrity ! None can believe that to be the case with 
large bodies of mankind but those whose discern- 
ment is annihilated by their prejudices, or bigot- 
ed attachment to favourite opinions. 

Again : What does the supposition that the 
whole Christian world has been hitherto deluded 



8 UNIVERSAL PRACTICE OF CHRISTIANS. 

by priestcraft, or the interested bigotry of priests, 
into the practice of social prayer, imply, but, in 
the second place, that the people themselves are 
as blind, as ignorant, or as criminal, in submit- 
ting to religious imposition, as their ministers are 
unprincipled and weak in carrying it into prac- 
tice ? The satire falls as severely upon the one as 
the other ; and goes to show, that from the earliest 
ages of Christianity until now, they who have 
been taught have as little understanding and in- 
tegrity as those who have been employed to teach ; 
that the great body of Christians have as yet been, 
and still are, either knaves or dupes, or both; 
and that the number who may take it for granted 
that they alone are possessed of sense and princi- 
ple united, is so small as scarcely to be percepti- 
ble. What moreover do the people gain by the 
imposition? Do they receive payment for giving 
it encouragement and support by their example 
and attendance ? or are they universally contri- 
buting to the maintenance of what by opening the 
New Testament they might easily know to be the 
grossest deception ? Our opinion of mankind bow- 
ever is not sunk thus low ; and we consequently 
infer, that the universal agreement of Christians, 
in all ages, in favour of social prayer, explicitly 
declared as it is by their practice, is a presump- 
tive argument of no inconsiderable force in its sup- 
port, as a practice equally approved by reason and 
the Scriptures. The whole current coin of a coun- 
try cannot be counterfeit, neither can the uniform 



ItEASOiNABI.UNESS 0¥ SOCIAL WORSHIP. 9 

and universal practice of Christians originate in 
fraud, and total ignorance of the Scriptures. 

It will still however be said, and why should 
it not ? that we have the Bible, containing the rule 
of faith and duty, in our hands, and by examining 
the Scriptures for ourselves, as we have an un- 
questionable right and as it is our duty to do, we 
can discover whether or not social prayer is a 
practice which Christ and his apostles approved 
and encouraged. By this test we have not the 
slightest objection that the question should be 
tried, and have no fear for the result. 

Previously however to entering upon this in- 
quiry, the reasonableness and utility of social 
prayer have some claim upon, our attention, as 
well as the practice of the ancient church of God 
under the Mosaic dispensation. 



SECTION II. 
The Reasonableness and Utility of Social Worship. 

On this part of the subject I shall beg leave, in 
the first place, to remind the reader of the just 
remark, that the Christian religion is the religion 
of nature explained, illustrated, extended, and 
enforced by higher sanctions and by motives more 
powerful and efficacious. In the former there is 
nothing inconsistent with the latter: and if there 
were, it could not be true ; for as the light of rea- 
son is as much the gift of God for the direction of 
b 5 



10 REASONABLENESS AND UTILITY 

his accountable creatures as revelation, they can- 
not be opposed to each other. Were there any 
thing in Christianity inconsistent with reason, 
then Christianity would be an irrational religion, 
and consequently would be unfit for man, who is 
a rational being. We have in fact no means of 
ascertaining, whether the religion of the New 
Testament be true or false but the use of reason; 
and, with whatever contempt and ingratitude 
some persons may speak of this first, best fruit of 
their Creator's beneficerce, it is by this faculty 
alone that they themselves do in fact judge of the 
nature of the doctrines and duties which the go- 
spel inculcates, as well as of the other evidences 
of its divine origin a . Hence it follows, If we can 
prove that social prayer is a reasonable practice, 
then it is at least consistent with the Christian 
religion, and ought to be used. 

a We are told, indeed, that the Scriptures cannot be un- 
derstood without the assistance of the holy spirit, or super- 
natural illumination \ and on this subject the following compa- 
rison has been used : What benefit would you derive, it has been 
asked, from the contents of a book which you have never read, 
in a room perfectly dark ? But in the state of this dark room 
is the human mind by nature with respect to religion ; so that 
reason, according to this assertion, affords no light whatever 
on religious topics essential to salvation. This surely is treat- 
ing this valuable gift of God with sufficient contempt and in- 
gratitude. However, the present is not a proper opportunity 
for discussing this question. I shall only observe, that a Bro- 
thers, a Southcott, and a Huntington, with a thousand other 
fanatics, have laid equal claim to divine illumination with the 
whole race of popular preachers of this or former periods, and 
with equal proof of the justice of their pretensions. What 
evidence have we, either in the one case or the other, of the 



OF SOCIAL WORSHIP. 1 I 

With the view, then, of establishing this point, 
let it be observed in the first place, that public 
worship and social prayer are perfectly consistent 
with the social nature and circumstances of man, 
in conjunction with the relation which connects 
him with his Creator, and the obligations under 
which he is laid to divine beneficence. 

" Have we not all one Father ? Hath not one 
God created us ? " Was not the favourite notion 
of our great Master concerning " his God and 
our God." that of the Universal Parent, — "his 
Father and our Father?" And was not this the 
character in which the apostles, his immediate 
successors in the great work of propagating the 
gospel, in their discourses and epistles delighted 
chiefly to present him to the confidence and ve- 
neration of mankind ? And are there any persons 
now professing Christianity, who retain the an- 
cient Jewish prejudice, and adopt opinions which 
represent the all- beneficent Creator, God who is 
love, as exercising the attributes of father towards 

existence of such a gift, but the assertion of those who tell us 
they possess it ? We respect the claims of the apostles to su- 
pernatural influence and divine illumination, because they 
wrought miracles in proof that they were thus highly favoured 
above the rest of mankind. Let others give the like evidence 
of the sameexalied privilege, and we will treat them with equal 
deference and respect. But we are not willing to receive their 
own assertion merely for proof, well knowing how easy and 
how common it is for men to mistake the workings of their 
own imagination and their feelings for supernatural influences 5 
and that there is no absurdity, however gross, that may not be, 
and in fact that has not been, promulgated under this com- 
mon and always popular pretence of divine illumination. 



12 REASONABLENESS AND UTILITY 

those only who become proselytes to their system 
of faith, and whose religious feelings and expe- 
rience are similar to their own, — to a highly fa- 
voured few,— to the elect alone ? When will they 
learn, that the just and liberal dispensation of the 
gospel is "glad tidings to all people," and owns 
no distinction marked with the slightest partia- 
lity, but affirms " with God is no respect of per- 
sons ?" a Is he the God of the Jews only ? Is he 
not the God of the Gentiles ? Yes ; of the Gen- 
tiles also." Such is the language equally of rea- 
son and of the Scriptures. Is there not then a 
reasonableness, a fitness, a propriety, and even a 
loveliness, which every mind not dead to moral 
sensibility must recognise, in the offspring of this 
common Parent assembling together to express 
ia unison their grateful sense of obligation to his 
bounty, their mutual dependence on his univer- 
sal care, and the need which they all have alike 
of his paternal support and favour ? May not the 
rich and poor meet together before Him who is 
the maker of them all, and with the utmost suit- 
ableness and decorum give utterance to those 
sentiments of filial veneration and love which it 
is the duty of all to cultivate, as well as to offer 
their united prayers for those qualifications es- 
pecially which are necessary to fit them for the 
enjoyment of his blessing ? 

Again : Who will deny that there is a univer- 
sal participation of similar feelings, as well as 
wants and infirmities common to all^ the natural 



OF SOCIAL WORSHIP. 13 

and proper expression of which is strictly social, 
and such as the virtuous and the good at least 
in the performance of religious as well as other 
duties will be readily impelled to exercise in 
conjunction with their fellow dependents on al- 
mighty power and beneficence ? Is it not true, 
that, in various essential particulars, the Creator 
" hath fashioned the hearts of all men alike," and 
that consequently "as face answereth to face, so 
doth the heart of man to man ?" Notwithstanding 
the vast difference in sentiments and ability which 
is the necessary result of different degrees of mo- 
ral and intellectual improvement, together with 
difference of constitution, still the leading features 
of the human mind are always radically the same ; 
and as mankind in general, by their original con- 
formation, are uniformly disposed to be put into 
life and action by the same springs, or to be anima- 
ted by the like motives, so the modes of expression 
suited to their common sentiments and affections 
are at once similar and also social. Hence arise 
not only a sympathy and reciprocation of thought 
and feeling, which are understood and recognised 
by all, but a propensity to unite with others in 
giving utterance to what we think and feel. With- 
out having recourse to innate principles, and ad- 
mitting the existence of considerable variety in the 
different mental as well as bodily constitutions of 
men, and also that both the existence and modifi- 
cation of the moral sensibilities and habits of all 
depend on the education they receive and the ope- 



14 REASONABLENESS AND UTILITY 

ration of the circumstances through which they 
pass, under the direction of the great First Cause, 
yet in every human mind there is, in different de- 
grees, the same propensity to gratitude for benefits 
received; the moral sense, or the capacity of per- 
ceiving the distinction between what is right and 
wrong in conduct, together with compunction and 
remorse for what is believed to be inconsistent 
with duty ; there is, however it may be suppressed 
by the prevalence of vice, a similar admiration and 
love of benevolence and virtue, and the desire at 
least, almost annihilated as it may be in some in- 
stances, of carrying: them into effect. And, as 
inseparably connected with these, who will deny 
that the religious principle, or the direction of the 
best affections and sentiments towards his Su- 
preme Benefactor, is also natural to man ? Or if 
any one should deny this, would not the history of 
all nations immediately refute the calumny ? All we 
know of mankind combines to show, that no prin- 
ciple is more evidently general, as certainly none 
is more powerful in its operation, than this. Re- 
ligion, moreover, when pure and uncontaminated 
— unfortunately too seldom the case — by super- 
stition and bigoted attachment to human creeds, 
is of all principles the most benevolent and social. 
He that loveth God, will necessarily love his bro- 
ther also. Benevolence, or love to God and man, 
is the essence of true religion ; and the more its 
influence prevails, the stronger will be the incli- 
nation of which every one will be conscious, to 



OF SOCIAL WORSHIP. 15 

unite with others in giving utterance to their 
common sentiments of gratitude to the common 
Benefactor; their penitence for transgressions of 
his will; and their humble but earnest desire of 
whatever may be calculated to render them the 
fit objects of his favour, — to give dignity, useful- 
ness, and value to their being. Will not such a 
practice prove as acceptable an offering to God 
as it is congenial with the best feelings and pro- 
pensities of men ? Why then, in the name of com- 
mon sense, must these feelings and propensities 
be suppressed ? If their existence be not endan- 
gered, why must their influence be greatly im- 
paired by consigning them altogether to silence 
and retirement ? For what purpose, moreover, 
was the faculty of speech bestowed, but to ex- 
press the sentiments of the heart? And w r here 
is the use of this faculty, if not in society ? In 
what again consists spiritual or mental prayer, 
but in the devout affections and desires of the 
mind addressed to God ? And if it be right to cul- 
tivate such affections and desires, how can it be 
wrong to express them ? If devotional sentiments 
are felt in society, what just reason can be given 
why they should not be uttered in society ? And 
what tribute of gratitude can be more worthy of 
a rational being in the relation in which he stands 
to his supreme Benefactor and his best friend ? 
If, in every thing else that is virtuous and good, 
man is allowed to be social and communicative, 
why in his devotions must he be required to di- 



16 KEASONABLENESS AND UTILITY 

vest himself of his social nature, and become al- 
together recluse and solitary ? If there be any 
who can say they have no religious principles in 
common with their fellow men ; no benefits to be 
thankful for, no sins to confess, no wants to be 
supplied, like the rest of their species ; no feel- 
ings of sympathy, no sentiments of devotion in 
which others may participate; then let them re- 
fuse to unite with others in the delightful em- 
ployment of rendering the social tribute of grati- 
tude and veneration where it is most due, and of 
making known their wants and requests, together 
with thanksgiving, to Him who giveth to all li- 
berally and upbraideth not. "O thou that hear- 
est prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come. We 
will enter thy courts with thanksgiving, and thy 
gates with praise. We will give thanks at the 
remembrance of thy holiness. O come, let us 
worship and bow down ; let us kneel before the 
Lord our maker ; let us call upon the name of 
Jehovah, for he is our God ; we are his people 
and the work of his hands." 

In the second place, will it be denied, that pub- 
lic social prayer is highly beneficial, that it tends 
to produce the best fruits of morality and practi- 
tical religion ? or will it be maintained, that it is 
calculated to do more harm than good ? To me 
at least it appears that the prevalence of religion 
depends upon its observance, and that without it 
the influence of Christianity upon society would 
gradually decay, and in the end become annihi- 



OF SOCIAL WORSHIP. 17 

lateth Others may think differently ; but we are 
thankful that we live in an age when the liberty 
of every one to express his convictions in decent 
language on religious topics, without restraint 
and without censure, is admitted. Misrepresen- 
tation and abuse, the remaining fruits of the spirit 
of persecution and bigotry, may continue to exist; 
but if fire, faggot, and the sword, have no power 
to silence what appears to be the voice of truth, 
reproach and calumny certainly will not have this 
effect. They may greatly injure, but can render 
no benefit to the cause which they are intended 
to assist. 

/ To the beneficial tendency and high importance 
of private prayer we give a ready assent : with- 
out it, the genuine and habitual influence of reli- 
gion on the life can scarcely be supposed to exist. 
Nothing certainly can be more remote from os- 
tentation than real devotion ; humility is essen- 
tial to its existence, and its principal source at 
least will always be found in reflection and com- 
munion with the Father of spirits, and with our 
own hearts, when secluded from the world : one of 
the most valuable benefits of public prayer arises 
from its tendency to promote that which is private. 
As both however have their peculiar advan- 
tages, so each of them is liable to defects and ten- 
dencies to evil peculiar to itself. Private devo- 
tion may be more free; less subject to restraint ; 
better adapted to individual feelings, wants, and 
experience; and not at all liable to suspicions of 



18 REASONABLENESS AND UTILITY 

deceit and ostentation. But it is also in danger of 
becoming enthusiastic on the one hand, or desti- 
tute of fervour and animation on the other. The 
thoughts may wander, and the affections grow cold 
and indifferent. At any rate, its good effects will 
be confined to one individual. Public prayer is 
more limited in its subjects, and may have less of 
personal interest ; and, what is far worse, it may 
also degenerate into parade and hypocritical for- 
mality, and may thus become a cloak for some of 
the worst of vices : but at the same time its salu- 
tary influence is more general and extensive ; its 
effect will probably be greater; it is calculated to 
afford more encouragement and strength to reli- 
gious principle, and especially to cherish the true 
spirit of general sympathy and fraternal affection, 
which Christ appointed to be the test by which his 
followers should be known a . 

Who can be a stranger to the influence of so- 
ciety upon his feelings and his motives ? Who 
that has any sensibility at all, does not know that 
some of his best emotions are more powerful in 
company than when alone ? Who is not aware 
that attention is kept alive, the memory and all 
the faculties of the mind roused into action, by 
the presence of others, when in solitude they 
would become torpid and dull ? And who can be 
ignorant especially, that by the union and con- 
currence of the friends of the same cause, unani- 

a John xiii, 35. 



or SOCIAL WORSHIP. 19 

mously engaged in the same occupation, his own 
mind receives additional encouragement, firm- 
ness and support? Why should this advantage 
be denied to religious exercises whilst it is allowed 
to those of any other description ? When engaged 
iu company with his brethren of mankind in pre- 
senting to the universal Parent and Benefactor 
their humble but sincere offering of adoration, 
thanksgiving, and supplication, every one must 
be sensible that his devotional sentiments expe- 
rience a considerable accession of vigour and ac- 
tivity; his faith becomes more powerful in its in- 
fluence; the satisfaction he derives from the con- 
solations and hopes of Christianity is more lively 
and exhilarating; his devotedness to God and his 
service, more cheerful and complete. But above 
all, the principle of benevolence and Christian 
charity towards all men can scarcely fail to be 
drawn forth into its greatest energy and extent, 
by the union of many in the social exercises of 
spiritual and true worship, rendered to that Be- 
ing who is love itself, who stands in the same re- 
lation to all, and whose blessing, like the dew 
which falls equally on the neglected shrub and 
the stately oak, descends and rests, without di- 
stinction, on every upright worshiper. One Lord, 
one faith, one baptism, one religious profession, 
one God and Father of all ; the same Christian 
principles and hopes; the same rule of conduct, 
and the same glorious expectation of everlasting 
union and felicity in the like employments of be- 



20 REASONABLENESS AND UTILITY 

nevolence, intelligence, and devotion in a better 
state, are the common property of Christians; 
and when their attention is employed in company 
with each other by social prayer on these general 
objects of their religious profession regularly and 
frequently, dead to the common sympathies of 
human nature must that mind be, which does not 
find itself warmed by more fervent affection to- 
wards those especially who are engaged in the 
same reverential worship, drawn into closer con- 
nexion with them, and prompted to take a stronger 
interest in their welfare ; nor will the same cause 
operate less favourably on the disposition and 
behaviour towards the rest of mankind. " How 
amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts ! 
A day spent in thy courts is better than a thou- 
sand. 5 ' The house of prayer at least is the abode 
of peace and love. If contention and discord na- 
turally result in Christian churches from dispu- 
tation and difference of opinion, the work of so- 
cial prayer and praise is surely calculated to al- 
lay animosities, and to banish antichristian dis- 
positions from those societies who engage in it 
from pure motives and with right conceptions of 
its nature. 

Social prayer, then, has an admirable tendency 
to give effect to Christian principles and doctrines. 
The whole system of moral and religious duties 
is easily understood, nor are the leading and es- 
sential truths of Christianity above the compre- 
hension of the humblest capacity. The difficulty 



OF SOCIAL WORSHIP. 21 

is not to communicate to men in general a know- 
ledge of what is essential to their highest welfare 
in this world and tlie next, so much as to give prac- 
tical efficacy to the moral and religious principles 
with which they are perfectly familiar. It is this 
indeed that calls for all the skill and all the exer- 
tion of Christian teachers, as every one who is 
honest and zealous in the profession must be well 
aware ; namely, to induce those who hear them to 
be influenced and to live by the plain and simple 
rules and principles of the gospel, sublime, uni- 
versally interesting, and all-important as they are. 
Social prayer is evidently one of those means which 
are admirably calculated to promote this great 
object. By withdrawing the attention from the 
anxious cares of life; by reducing the mind to a 
state of calmness, reflection, and solemnity; by 
cherishing and giving fresh strength to devout and 
benevolent affections, it is manifestly an excellent 
preparative for religious instruction, thus render- 
ing the soil fit for the reception of the good seed of 
the word of God. It is indeed an instrument pow- 
erful in its operation; and though capable of per- 
version, like every thing else that is good, to pur- 
poses of mischief (and on this account serious is the 
responsibility of those who direct the use of it), 
still far greater good than evil will usually be the 
result of its general adoption. But where reli- 
gious opinions are correctly Christian, and where 
social prayer is conducted with ability and judge- 
ment united to genuine devotion, the effect can 



22 REASONABLENESS AND UTILITY 

scarcely fail to prove not less salutary than power- 
ful and permanent. Let any persons recollect 
how they have been influenced, when joining at- 
tentively in public worship thus conducted, and 
they are differently constituted surely from the 
rest of mankind, if they do not discover that the 
effect has been in the highest degree beneficial. 
For these reasons it has sometimes been remark- 
ed by persons who have united judgement and 
knowledge to religion and integrity, that the de- 
votional parts of the public services in our places 
of worship are of more importance, because they 
give greater effect to religious and moral princi- 
ples, than even the most persuasive religious in- 
struction itself* 

After all, will the objection still be urged, that 
persons who conduct or who join in social prayer, 
may and sometimes do, render this practice no- 
thing better than a cloak for abominable wicked- 
ness ? This is readily admitted, and the Pharisees 
are notorious instances. But to urge this cir- 
cumstance as a proof that social prayer is neither 
rational nor useful, is evidently arguing from the 
abuse of the practice against the use of it ; a mode 
of reasoning universally discarded. The same 
argument moreover may be employed, with equal 
force, against the profession of religion in any 
form and by any means whatever. But why is it 
not perceived, that the very objection itself ad- 
mits the excellent tendency of social worship ? 
They are the best things that are most liable to 



or social worship. 23 

abuse; and the very reason why deceivers find it 
convenient to take refuge in a public profession 
of religion by observing its forms, is, because those 
forms are perceived to be good in their tendency 
and effect. If public worship, including social 
prayer, were not known to be usually connected 
with real integrity and the moral principles which 
genuine religion requires, how would it be worth 
while for any persons to take up this practice as 
a covering for their vices ? It can be only because 
social and public worship is acknowledged to be 
highly beneficial by producing habits of virtue 
and good conduct, that hypocrites find it conve- 
nient to hide their hollowness and depravity un- 
der its shelter and protection. Were not this the 
case, it w r ould afford them no service. 

<( Hypocrisy, detest her as we may, 
(And no man's hatred ever wrong' d her yet,) 
May claim this merit still — that she admits 
The worth of what she mimics with such care a ." 

So evident indeed is the salutary influence of 
public worship in a moral view, that it is scarcely 
possible that persons who attend it with regula- 
rity, should not feel the obligation under which 
they are laid thereby to maintain a conversation 
worthy of their profession as followers of Christ, 
lest the odious stigma of pharisaical duplicity 
should fix itself upon them : nor is this a consi- 
deration of minor importance. 

a Cowper's Task, book iii. 



24 REASONABLENESS AND UTILITY 

Private prayer is also liable to the worst abuse. 
It cannot be charged with ostentation ; but it may 
be converted into a substitute for moral duties. 
A strict and regular performance of the private 
exercises of devotion may be made to serve as a 
sort of compromise for the most important virtues, 
and thus mint and rue and annis and cummin may 
be tithed even in secret, whilst the weightier mat- 
ters of the law, as justice, temperance, and mercy, 
may be treated as of little worth. His conduct 
towards his God, the greatest of beings, such a 
person may possibly imagine, is alone of real im- 
portance ; at least he may act as if this were the 
case; and if he perform with exactness and fer- 
vour his duties to his Maker, he may feel but little 
concern in what manner he conducts himself to- 
wards creatures so insignificant, in his estimation, 
as mortals. He may feel no hesitation in acting 
as if religion had nothing to do with the affairs of 
the world, or with trade ; and thus petty fraud, 
falsehood and imposition, or other vices, may be 
found in company with the religious observances 
of the closet, not less than of the church, the meet- 
ing, or the chapel. 

But the personal and social duties of a moral 
kind; — are they also free from all danger of si- 
milar perversion and abuse ? An individual, for 
instance, who is sufficiently exact in discharging 
the obligations of common honesty, may think him- 
self excused from attending to the demands of cha- 
rity : hence he may be hard of heart, brutal in his 



OF SOCIAL WORSHIP. 25 

manners, subject to violent anger, and altogether 
destitute of Christian benevolence. "Am I my 
brother's keeper? I pay every one his own, and 
what more can be required of me ? If others are 
suffering distress, that is no concern of mine,— 
charity begins at home." And thus also even cha- 
rity itself may serve, in the worst sense, to cover 
a multitude of sins. In short, we well know that 
any religious and moral duty is liable to be sub- 
stituted for others ; and it is our business to take 
care that we be not seduced into the neglect of 
any useful and excellent custom by the conside- 
ration only of its abuse and perversion to evil 
purposes. As well might we nauseate the food 
that is necessary to life, or reject the moderate 
use of wholesome beverage, because there are 
those who injure their health, their character and 
their circumstances, by intemperance, as refuse to 
join with others in any religious service, because 
there are hypocrites, who make it a substitute for 
integrity, justice and humanity. 

But there is one circumstance of considerable 
importance relative to social worship, which re- 
mains to be taken notice of; and that is, the ef- 
fect which it is calculated to have upon the minds 
of those who are not in the habit of prayer at all 9 
and who are as yet strangers to the practical 
influence of religion entirely ; children, for in- 
stance, and young persons. Is it true, that upon 
their minds especially, example and custom have 
greater influence than precept ? And are they 
taught only to pray, whilst they see no instance 

c 



26 REASONABLENESS AND UTILITY 

of the performance of this duty in others ? Will 
they not be in danger at least of slighting the 
precept, and following the example of neglect, 
in private as well as public? Undoubtedly it is in 
the regular and stated offices of devotion in so- 
ciety, that their habits of religion, if formed at all, 
must have their source. 

Again : How large is the number of persons 
who live in Christian countries and are called by 
the Christian name, but who are in the habit of 
neglecting the duties of private as well as public 
devotion altogether ! By what means are such in- 
dividuals to be induced to attend constantly to 
the practice of the duties they owe to God, which 
are in truth the only sure foundation of all other 
duties, if public worship, including social prayer, 
be totally laid aside ? Would religious instruction 
be sufficient ? To me at least it appears that it 
would not. Prayer is not, and cannot be made 
the habitual or frequent topic of public discussion ; 
whereas the constant practice of social worship, 
whilst it is admirably calculated to give the best 
effect to sentiments of devotion and benevolence, 
and to prepare the mind for the reception of mo- 
ral instruction, is well adapted also to the pro- 
duction of religious habits in retirement ; and 
thus many a sinner who entered the house of wor- 
ship with a design to scoff, has not left it till he 
has learned to pray. 

From all these considerations, therefore, we 
conclude that few customs are more important 
than that of public worship ; and that if it were 



OF SOCIAL WORSHIP. 27 

entirely to cease, private devotion would lose its 
influence, and the world in general would have 
little if any religion whatever. 

I have only to add on this part of the subject, 
that the good effect of social prayer will probably 
be greater on the mind of the person who con- 
ducts the service, or who delivers the prayers, than 
of those who hear and silently join with him in 
this duty. Hence those forms of public worship 
in which all Christians are actually employed, in 
this respect at least, have considerable advantage, 
whatever may be their defects on other accounts. 
Though much learning may be necessary to un- 
derstand thoroughly some parts of the Scriptures 
that have given rise to controversy, all that is 
essential to salvation is extremely plain and in- 
telligible ; and certainly every one who under- 
stands the gospel is not only at liberty to teach 
it, but by endeavouring to instruct others he will 
adopt an excellent method of learning and of im- 
proving himself. So also meetings for social 
prayer, as well as religious instruction, in which 
all who are competent alternately conduct the de- 
votions of others, will be found to be attended 
with the most important benefit. Our Metho- 
distic brethren, as their conduct shows, are fully 
sensible of this ; and there can be no doubt that 
one of the chief causes of their astonishing and 
rapid success, is the universality and the fre- 
quency of their meetings for social prayer upon 
this plan. 

a 2 



28 



CHAPTER II. 

The Degree of Encouragement given to 
Social Prayer by the Scriptures of 
the Old Testament. 

SECTION I. 

The Practice of the Jews, under the Mosaic Dis* 
pensatiori) relative to this Subject. 

Having shown the reasonableness, excellent 
tendency and great importance, of public worship, 
or social prayer, in a moral as well as religious 
view, we are now to inquire into the degree of 
support and encouragement which this practice 
derives from the Scriptures ; and that it should 
be made a question at all, whether the sanction 
which it receives from these invaluable guides to 
truth and duty, be fully satisfactory or not, to me 
at least, after careful investigation, appears to be 
matter of surprise. 

On this part of the subject, the first topic that 
presents itself is the practice of the Israelites du- 
ring the several periods of their history as a na- 
tion. And it is to the purpose to remark that, 
though in a variety of important instances the 
Mosaic dispensation was essentially different from 
the Christian, and inferior to it, because it was 
adapted in these instances exclusively to that sin- 



THE PRACTICE OF THE JEWS. £9 

gular people, and to times and circumstances ma- 
terially different from ours, still it was founded 
upon principles common to all men ; for it is evi- 
dent that the worship which it authorized was 
not only public but social, and, as we shall be 
able to prove, even social prayer was a prac- 
tice with which the ancient Jews were familiar, 
and to which in the time of Christ especially they 
had been long and universally accustomed. Nor 
is this circumstance of inferior importance ; for 
it is a remark upon which the opponents of social 
prayer lay considerable stress, that this practice 
is not sanctioned by any express command of 
Christ and his apostles ; and the reply is, that so 
familiar were Christ and his apostles, as well as 
those whom they taught, with this excellent cus- 
tom, and so little danger is there, whilst true re- 
ligion prevails, and human nature continues what 
it is, that it should ever be laid aside, that they 
did not think it necessary to enforce the obser- 
vance of it by a special injunction. 

In the early ages of the world, of which we 
have any account^ when mankind were most sub- 
ject to the influence of the senses, the imagina- 
tion, and the passions, sacrifices and ceremonial 
observances were modes of religious worship 

3 1 

which generally prevailed; and these symbols of 
affectionate gratitude for benefits received, of 
penitence for acknowledged transgression, and of 
earnest desire of divine favour and acceptance, 
had their origin, no doubt, in the same sentiments 



SO THE PRACTICE OF THE JEWS 

and feelings as gave rise to the custom of approach- 
ing their princes and distinguished benefactors, 
on all important occasions, with the most accept- 
able presents which their circumstances would 
allow. The Mosaic institute did nothing more 
with respect to sacrifices than regulate the use of 
a practice, which was adapted to the state of man- 
kind at that time, and which had taken too strong 
a hold of their prejudices and habits to be eradi- 
cated without danger to their religion. But so 
far were offerings to God or man from precluding 
the use of prayers and petitions, either in the one 
case or the other, that the former appear to have 
been considered only as the fittest means of ren- 
dering the latter the more acceptable. Among 
the patriarchs and Jews, especially in the latter 
periods of their history, prayer and praises ac- 
companied their sacrifices, and regularly formed 
a part of their social and public religious services. 
The principal signification of divine worship, 
adopted by general consent, is prayer; and that 
this is a signification of that expression, whether it 
relate to acts of public or private devotion, which 
frequently occurs in the Scriptures, is unquestion- 
able. The following instances will serve to show 
how familiar the Jews always were with the prac- 
tice of social worship in this sense. 

In the patriarchal ages the modes of worship 
were as simple and unrestrained as possible. 
Heads of families, or tribes, chose any place for 
this purpose which they thought suitable^ and 



UNDER THE MOSAIC DISPENSATION. 31 

changed it continually, as, in the course of an un- 
settled and wandering- life, they had occasion to 
change the place of their abode. Such, we find, 
was the case with the Father of the faithful. 
Wherever Abraham resided, there he erected an 
altar, and there he statedly " called upon the 
name of the Lord," prayer, as just observed, be- 
ing a regular appendage of the sacrifice, and pro- 
perly constituting the worship \ Isaac followed 
the example of his father 15 , as did Jacob also ; 
for, when he fled from home through fear of his 
brother, he erected the stone on which he slept 
as a memorial of the vision which he had seen, 
and made a solemn vow, that, if he should return 
in safety, this should be God's house (Bethel) ; 
and accordingly after his return he erected an al- 
tar there, and of course called upon the name of 
the Lord, according to the custom of his fathers ; 
and wherever sacrifice and prayer were offered, 
there God was supposed to dwell. Now it is 
evident from the circumstances of the case, that 
these altars were not places of solitary worship 
only. Did these pious patriarchs suffer their fa- 

3 See Gen. xii. 8. xiii. 4. xxi. 33. And when Abraham in- 
terceded for Sodom, it was probably at the stated place where 
he was accustomed to worship God. Compare Gen. xviii. 22 
and 23 with xix. 27. Prayer at the time of sacrifice was also 
a common practice among Heathen nations, instances of which 
occur in Homer's Odyss. lib. iii. 447, 450. xi. 34. xiv. 423, 
and in Virgil's 3En. lib. xii. 175. vi. 247. The case of Elijah's 
contest with the prophets of Baal presents an instance of both. 
3 Kings xviii. 19. 

D Gen. xxvi. 25. c Gen. xxviii. IS — 22. xxxv, 7—14, 



O'Z THE PRACTICE OF THE JEWS 

milies and numerous dependants to live in total 
neglect of religion and its public duties? Certain- 
ly not. On the contrary it is mentioned as an 
honourable trait in Abraham's character, that he 
would take the necessary care that his children 
and his household should follow his own example 
of religious fidelity a . These altars, then, were 
the places where the patriarchs worshiped God 
by prayer and sacrifice, not alone, but in company 
with the families or tribes of which they were the 
heads. They were the priests as well as rulers of 
their households. 

After this period, when the children of Israel 
had become a numerous people, many instances 
occur in the Old Testament which prove that the 
worship of God in large assemblies was a prac- 
tice to which they were accustomed. 

In the 15th chapter of Exodus we are informed, 
that Moses himself and all the people united in a 
solemn act of devout^thanksgiving, on the occa- 
sion of their deliverance from Egyptian bondage ; 
nor is it matter of any consequence, that the 
prayer here recorded is called a song, or whether 
it were really sung, or recited in any other mode. 
It was unquestionably a social address to the one 
living and true God, expressing the fervent gra- 
titude of the worshipers for recent salvation from 
the most cruel oppression, and their unreserved 
trust in his future protection ; an address in which 
the whole congregation joined with their leader : 
a Gen. xviii. 19. 



" Then sung Moses and the children of Israel this 
song unto Jehovah ; and spake, saying, ' I will 
sing unto Jehovah, for he hath triumphed glori- 
ously. The horse and his rider hath he thrown 
into the sea. Jehovah is my strength and my 
song ; he also is become my salvation/ &c. — 4 Who 
is like unto thee, O Jehovah, among the gods ? 
Who is like unto thee, glorious in holiness, fear- 
ful in praises, doing wonders?'" &c. 

In Deut. xxxii. another solemn act of worship 
is recorded, which Moses conducted, and which 
was at least public, if not social; for it is said 
(ver. 44), " And Moses came and spake all the 
words of this song in the ears of the people, he, 
and Hoshea the son of Nun." 

Joshua followed the example of his predeces- 
sor. Josh. vii. 6. After the Israelites had expe- 
rienced a defeat from their enemies, "when the 
heart of the people melted, and became as water, 
Joshua rent his clothes before the ark of the Lord, 
he and the elders of Israel until the even-tide:" 
the prayer, or rather the substance of it, is given. 
It was an act of public supplication, in which 
the elders at least joined with Joshua. 

In Judges x. 15, the children of Israel are re- 
presented as uniting in addressing a solemn con- 
fession of their sins to God, and in prayer for as- 
sistance, " And the children of Israel cried unto 
the Lord, saying, ' We have sinned : do thou 
unto us what seemeth good unto thee ; deliver us 
only, we pray thee, this day. 5 " 
C 5 > 



£4 THE PRACTICE OF THE JEWS 

1 Sam. xii. 16, &c. we are informed that Samuel 
prayed, evidently in the presence of the people. 

1 Chron. xxix. 10—13, David delivered an 
admirable prayer, consisting of thanksgiving and 
supplication, in a general assembly of the people : 
" Wherefore David blessed Jehovah before all 
the congregation, and David said, ' Blessed be 
thou, Lord God of Israel, our father, for ever 
and ever. Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and 
the power, and the glory, and the victory, and 
the majesty : for all that is in the heaven and the 
earth is thine ; thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and 
thou art exalted to be head over all. Both riches 
and honour come of thee, and thou reignest over 
all ; in thine hand is power and might, and in 
thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength 
unto all. Now therefore, our God, we thank 
thee, and praise thy glorious name,' " &c. This 
then, it appears from the plural form of the ex- 
pression, was strictly a social prayer, consisting 
of adoration, thanksgiving and petition, deliver- 
ed by David in the name of the people, and in 
which the people evidently joined. At the con- 
clusion of it David said to all the congregation, 
" Now bless the Lord your God ; and all the 
congregation blessed the Lord God of their fa- 
thers," &c. Nor is this fact at all invalidated 
by the singular use which is here made of the 
word worship , both in its civil and religious mean- 
ing. It was after the people had united in this 
public act of social prayer, that they bowed down 



UNDER THE MOSAIC DISPENSATION. 35 

their heads, and worshiped the Lord and the king. 
The external act was the same, but the disposi- 
tion of mind was different, and the difference is 
easily understood. 

It may be observed in addition, that this is 
an instance of public social prayer at a time when 
sacrifices were most in use, and the Mosaic ritual 
consequently in full authority ; for " they sacri- 
ficed sacrifices unto the Lord on the morrow af- 
ter that day, even a thousand bullocks, a thou- 
sand rams, and a thousand lambs, with their 
drink offerings, and sacrifices in abundance for all 
Israel;" that is, besides the sacrifices presented 
by individuals. 

In the 16th chapter of the same book we are 
informed that David appointed certain officers, 
whose stated employment it was to offer to God 
devout addresses of praise and thanksgiving; and 
this, it is added, they did continually ; and of what 
consequence is it whether they were sung ? or 
chanted, or spoken ; or that they were accompa- 
nied by musical instruments? They were social 
acts of praise and prayer. And " David (ver. 4) 
appointed certain Levites, of whom Asaph was 
the chief, to minister before the ark of the Lord, 
and to record, and to thank and praise the 
Lord." And immediately after follows an ex- 
cellent specimen of devout thanksgiving which 
David composed on the occasion. u Then on 
that day David delivered first," or as the first 
instance after the appointment of these officers, 



OO THE PRACTICE OF THE JEWS 

"this psalm" or prayer, for the word psalm, 
which is in Italics, is not in the original, " to 
Asaph and his brethren." The conclusion is, 
" Say ye, 'Save us, O God of our salvation, and 
gather us together, and deliver us from the hea- 
then, that we may give thanks to thy holy name, 
and glory in thy praise.' Blessed be the Lord 
God of Israel for ever and ever. And all the 
people said Amen, and praised the Lord." The 
people therefore joined unanimously in these 
public acts of worship. 

Solomon's dedication of the Temple was also an 
instance of public devotion, and the account of it 
contains a prayer delivered by himself in a gene- 
ral assembly of the people ; and though it is not 
said that the whole congregation added their 
amen at the conclusion, yet whenever a solemn 
prayer is thus addressed to God in a public as- 
sembly, those who are present are always con- 
sidered as taking a part in the act, as it was per- 
fectly natural and proper for them to do on this 
occasion. From the whole account, indeed, we 
can scarcely avoid inferring that the people con- 
curred in this public act of worship. The praises 
also which were addressed to Jehovah at the con- 
clusion of the service were at any rate perfectly 
social; for the singers lifted up their voices with 
the musical instruments and praised the Lord, 
saying, "For he is good, for his mercy enduretli 
for ever." 

In the Psalms there are many instances adapt- 



UNDER THE MOSAIC DISPENSATION, 37 

ed, and adapted only, to public social worship. 
They are evidently composed for the Temple ser- 
vice. In the 122d Psalm language is used which 
necessarily refers to a public and social act : M I 
was glad when they said unto me, ' Let us go into 
the house of the Lord.' Our feet shall stand with- 
in thy gates, O Jerusalem ; whither the tribes go 
up, the tribes of the Lord, unto the testimony of 
Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the Lord," 
This language of course implies that the pur- 
pose for which the Israelites statedly assembled 
in the Temple was social worship in the sense of 
praise and prayer. Among many others the fol- 
lowing were evidently composed for such occa- 
sions. Ps. Ixxx. a part of which is as follows : 
u Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that lead- 
est Joseph like a flock ; thou that dwellest be- 
tween the cherubim, shine forth. Turn us again, 
O God, and cause thy face to shine ; and zee shall 
be saved. O Lord God of hosts, how long wilt 
thou be angry against the prayer of thy people? 
Turn us again, O God of hosts, and cause thy 
face to shine, and we shall be saved. &c. So shall 
we not go back from thee : quicken us, and we 
will call upon thy name. Turn us again, O Lord 
God of hosts, and cause thy face to shine ; and 
zee shall be saved." Ps. xcv. "O come, let us 
sing unto the Lord ; let us make a joyful noise 
unto the rock of our salvation. Let us come be- 
fore his presence with thanksgiving, and make a 
joyful noise with psalms. For the Lord is a great 



38 THE PRACTICE OF THE JEWS 

God, and a great King above all gods," &c. To 
come before the presence of Jehovah, was to en- 
ter the Temple for the purpose of religious wor- 
ship ; for Jehovah was considered as dwelling 
between the cherubim, which were there. The 
106th, 108th, 149th, and in short a considerable 
part of the Psalms, as observed before, were evi- 
dently composed expressly for social worship. In 
whatever way they were recited, they were devout 
addresses to Jehovah, consisting of adoration, 
thanksgiving, confession, and petition, which con- 
stitute the definition of prayer, and the princi- 
pal meaning of divine worship. 

2 Chron. xx. 4 — 13, we are informed, when a 
numerous army of the Moabites and others came 
against Jehoshaphat, that "Judah gathered them- 
selves together to ask help of the Lord : even out 
of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the 
Lord. And Jehoshaphat stood in the congrega- 
tion of Judah and Jerusalem," and prayed to 
God; "and all Judah stood before the Lord, 
with their little ones, their wives, and their chil- 
dren," evidently uniting in this act of religious 
worship. The prayer, which is recorded on this 
occasion, is such as manifestly implies the parti- 
cipation and concurrence of all the people. And 
in the 18th verse we are informed that "Jeho- 
shaphat bowed his head with his face to the 
ground: and all Judah with the inhabitants of 
Jerusalem fell before the Lord, worshiping the 
Lord. And the Levites stood up to praise the 



UNDER THE MOSAIC DISPENSATION. 39 

Lord God of Israel with a loud voice." And 
their prayer was heard. 

After the revolt of the ten tribes during the 
cruel and tyrannical reign of Rehoboam, the 
Israelites were miserably devoted to the worst 
customs of idolatry; and, notwithstanding the 
most solemn and repeated warnings, so incorrigi- 
ble did they become, that they were at length 
given up as a prey to their enemies ; their cities 
and their temple were destroyed, and they them- 
selves carried into captivity by the Chaldeans. 
During this long and gloomy period % hoxvever, 
the worship of the true God was by no means 
wholly forsaken ; and so salutary was the lesson 
which they received from this severe chastise- 
ment of seventy years, that after their restoration 
to their own country, this unhappy people never 
again relapsed into the wretched superstition and 
abominable vices of heathen nations, to which 
they had been addicted. On their return from 
Babylon, when the Temple was begun to be re- 
built, we are informed, Ezra iii. 10, 11, the Le- 
vites, the sons of Asaph, were restored to their 
office of celebrating the praises of Jehovah, " after 
the ordinances of David king of Israel ; and they 
sung together by course, in praising aud giving 
thanks unto the Lord ; because he is good, for 
his mercy endureth for ever toward Israel; and 
all the people shouted with a great shout, when 

a About 250 years. 



40 THE PRACTICE OF THE JEWS 

they praised the Lord, because the foundation of 
the house of the Lord was laid." And when 
Ezra afterwards publicly read the book of the 
law, which had been nearly forgotten during the 
captivity, it was introduced by a solemn act of 
worship. Nehemiah viii. 6 : u And when Ezra 
opened the book, all the people stood up. And 
Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God. And all 
the people answered, 'Amen, Amen,' with lift- 
ing up of their hands," &c. And in the next 
chapter, ver. 4, we are informed, u All the people 
stood up in their place, and 'read in the book of 
the law of the Lord their God one fourth part 
of the day, and another fourth they confessed and 
worshiped the Lord their God." 

In Zechariah viii. 20 — 23, there is a passage 
which evidently refers to the public worship of 
God in Jerusalem : it is a prophecy that was de- 
livered for the encouragement of the people in 
rebuilding the city, &c. " Thus saith the Lord 
of hosts, It shall yet come to pass, that there 
shall come people, and the inhabitants of many 
cities : and the inhabitants of one city shall go to 
another, saying, Let us go speedily to pray be- 
fore the Lord, and to seek the Lord of hosts : I 
will go also. Yea, many people and strong na- 
tions shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Je- 
rusalem, and to pray before the Lord" &c. To 
w hat can this language refer but to public social 
worship ? To pray before the Lord, was to pray 
in his house, where he was supposed to dwells 



UNDER THE MOSAIC DISPENSATION. 41 

originally in the Temple, but also in the Syna- 
gogues for there was an ark, which was consi- 
tiered as the seat of the peculiar presence of Je- 
hovah. 

In the prophecy of Joel, ii. 15 — 17, there is a 
command to sanctify 7 a fast, and to call a solemn 
assembly for prayer and supplication, which "the 
priests, the ministers of the Lord," were to con- 
duct " between the altar and the porch of the 
Temple," the place, no doubt, where they were 
accustomed to offer up their prayers, and evident- 
ly in the presence of the people, as well as in 
their behalf. And it may be added finally, that 
there was an assembly of all the males before 
God in Jerusalem, three times a year, not for 
rejoicing only, but for religious worship, and es- 
pecially to express their gratitude to their Su- 
preme Benefactor for the most remarkable in- 
stances of his favour. Deut. xvi. a 

To all this it has been added, that in the first 
book of Maccabees, which, in the words of Pri- 
deaux b , is " a very accurate and excellent his- 
tory," chap. iii. ver. 44, we learn that in conse- 
quence of the apprehension which Judas and his 
brethren entertained of the designs of Antiochus, 
the congregation was gathered together, that 

a Some account of the manner in which the religious ser- 
vices were conducted at the passover, the principal of these 
festivals, will be given hereafter; and it will then appear that 
the public worship on these occasions was entirely social. 

b Prideaux " Connexion," part ii. book iii. p. 185. See 
Pone's Answer to Wakefield. 



42 THE PRACTICE OF THE JEWS 

they might be ready for battle, and also that they 
might pray, and ask mercy and compassion. From 
the nature of the prayer itself, it was evidently 
the act of the whole people. This was about 200 
years before Christ, at a time when the Jews, 
from having been totally remiss in their attention 
to the ceremonies of their religion, were become 
exact and strict in them even to a degree of su- 
perstition. From another instance also in this 
book it appears, that social prayer was then con- 
nected with the Mosaic ritual. 

From the instances which have been selected, 
then, it is perfectly manifest that the Israelites 
were always accustomed to public social worship, 
consisting of both prayer and praise ; and it is 
observable that of these instances some consist of 
thanksgiving and adoration ; some of confession 
of sin ; others of petition ; and in others all 
these are united. Should it be said that part of 
them took place on extraordinary occasions, and 
are therefore no proofs of the common prac- 
tice of the Jews, it is obvious to reply that they 
are such instances only of which the historian 
would take any notice; the usual and every-day 
services of religion would of course be passed over 
in silence, just as days of public thanksgiving, or 
any solemn act of national worship on some sin- 
gular occasion, might be mentioned by historians 
of the present day, whilst the regular worship of 
the Sunday would not form a subject sufficiently 
remarkable to be adverted to. The whole of 



UNDER THE MOSAIC DISPENSATION. 4J 

these instances, however, together with the psalms 
composed expressly for the Temple service, and 
the officers appointed to conduct it, prove incon- 
testably that social worship was the constant and 
stated practice of the Jews, and that it was al- 
ways connected with the observance of the Mo- 
saic rites. 

It is a remarkable circumstance, that in the first 
edition of Mr. Wakefield's pamphlet against pub- 
lic worship, which at the time excited consider- 
able attention, he says expressly, " I find no cir- 
cumstances in the Scriptures, concerning this 
people, the Hebrews, that wear any aspect of 
public worship, as we conduct it ;" but in his se- 
cond edition he abandoned this topic of argument, 
in consequence of the satisfactory answers to it a , 
and allows himself to have been mistaken. He 
adds, however, that the Jewish public worship is 
nothing to the purpose b ; in which he appears to 
us to have been equally mistaken : and> among 
other reasons, because, in the first place, this 
part of the religious services of the Jews ap- 
pears to have been sanctioned by the personal 
attendance of Christ and his apostles ; and se- 
condly, the universal prevalence of social prayer 
and praise among this people, accounts satisfacto- 
rily for no command occurring in the New Testa- 
ment for the observance of this custom. To this 

* From the able pens of Mrs. Barbauld, Dr. Disney, Mr. 
Simson, and Mr. Pope. 

* See Pone's Answer to Wakefield. 



44 RELIGIOUS SERVICES OF THE TEMPLE 

it may be added, that social prayer is a duty 
altogether independent of the Mosaic institutes; 
but by its connexion with them it may be consi- 
dered as receiving an additional divine sanction. 

Notwithstanding all this, however, it is still 
maintained that social prayer did not form a part 
of the Temple service, if it did of the ancient syna- 
gogues. It may be proper, therefore, to state 
more particularly, on the best authority that can 
be procured, in what the services of both these 
places of public worship consisted, especially in 
the time of Christ : and this we shall do on the 
authority of writers who, having made the best 
use of whatever sources of information on this 
subject remain, will be readily acknowledged to 
be the most competent judges of it, and who ve- 
rify the statements which they make by reference 
to the most ancient Jewish and other writers, as 
well as the Scriptures. 



SECTION II. 

The Religious Services of the Temple in the Time 
of Christ a . 

The services of the Temple consisted of sacri- 
fices and offerings, the reading of the law, prayers, 

a The following particulars may be found in Lightfoot's 
treatise entitled w The Temple Service as it stood in the Days 
of our Saviour ;" in Lewis's " Origines Hebrcece, the Antiqui- 
ties of the Jewish Republic ;" Prideaux's " Connexion," &c. 
part i. books iii. and iv. 5 Millar's " History of the Church 



IN THE TIME OF CHRIST. 45 

and sacred music, both vocal and instrumental. 
For each department of these services, numerous 
officers were appointed, whose stated employ- 
ment it was to conduct them with great exact- 
ness, and latterly with equal superstition. They 
consisted of twenty-four courses of priests, as 
many of the singers who were the Levites, and 
an equal number of porters. To these were 
added also twenty-four courses of officers, who 
were called Israelites of the station : each of these 
courses consisting of a considerable number of 
individuals 21 . Though this latter title does not 
occur in the Scriptures, it seems however plainly 
deducible from thence ; for by a maxim in refer- 
ence to their sacrifices, the greater part of them 
could not be offered, except the persons were 
present whose sacrifices they were. The princi- 
pal of them, as the daily morning and evening 
offering of a lamb for instance, were sacrifices in 
behalf of the whole people b . But the whole 
people could not at any time be present. And in 
other cases of sacrifices presented by individuals, 
it might often happen that the persons whose 
offerings they were would unavoidably be ab- 

under the Old Testament ;" Reland's " Antiquitates Sacra 
Veterum Hebrceorum delineates ;" Godwin's " Moses and 
Aaron ;" Selden's Works, vol. i. ; " The Book of the Religi- 
ous Ceremonies and Prayers of the Jews, translated from the 
Hebrew, by Gam. Ben Pedahzur," 8vo. London, 1738: but 
especially Vitringa de Synagoga Vetere, and Buxtorf 's Syna- 
goga Judaica. 

a Lightfoot's " Temple Service," ch. viii. sect. 3. p. 62. 

b Lev, i. 3, IH. 2, 8. 



46 RELIGIOUS SERVICES OF THE TEMPLE 

sent. It became necessary, therefore, that on ali 
these occasions some persons should be deputed 
to represent them ; and this being more than 
the same individuals were equal to constantly, 
twenty-four courses of them were appointed for 
this purpose. These officers were also called the 
angels, or messengers, of Israel, because they 
were sent, or deputed to appear before God in be- 
half of the people ; and though no notice is taken 
of them in the Scriptures, there is ample proof of 
their existence in the ancient Jewish writers. 

It was considered, moreover, as the duty of ali 
the people to be present, not only at the daily sacri- 
fices morning and evening, but also at the reading 
of the law, and at the prayers ; and as this could 
never happen, the Israelites of the station were 
appointed to appear as their representatives in 
their absence at all these services, in order that a 
congregation might be constantly ensured. And 
though they were not required to attend at some 
of the sacrifices, because it was not necessary that 
the persons on whose behalf the sacrifice was of- 
fered, should be present to lay their hands on its 
head, the standing of these officers constantly at 
prayers, supplications, and orisons, says Light- 
foot % and at the reading of the law, was called 

a " The Temple Service as it stood in the Days of our Sa- 
viour," ch. vii. sect. 3. pp. 64 and 65; Godwin's " Moses and 
Aaron," lib. i. ch. v. p. 22. See also Lewis's <e Antiquities," 
Millar's " Church History," and the other writers on this part 
of the subject. 



IN THE TIME OF CHRIST. 47 

the station, from which their name is derived. 
With the absurdity of worshiping God by proxy, 
whether by Jews or others, our argument has no 
concern ; but the constant attendance of these 
representatives of the people, who were necessa- 
rily absent, is by no means irrelevant. They were 
always considered as forming a congregation \ 
and this circumstance alone proves that the whole 
services of the Temple were strictly social. 

The Sacrifices. 

The religious services of the Temple began 
with the sacrifices, the design of which was to 
express the religious sentiments of the worship- 
er by actions instead of words : they were sym- 
bols of the devout homage of the mind in ac- 
knowledgement of divine beneficence, or expres- 
sions of penitence, intended to conciliate the fa- 
vour of an offended Deity. They consisted of 
animals, as heifers, sheep, goats, turtle-doves, 
and pigeons; and of inanimate things, as tithes of 
first fruits, flour, wine, oil, frankincense, and salt, 
The most holy sacrifices were those of the whole 
people, as burnt-offerings, sin-offerings, trespass- 
offerings, and peace-offerings. The inferior were 
those which were the offerings of individuals, as 
the paschal-lamb, fatlings, and tenths. 

The appointed time for the commencement of 
the daily sacrifice of a lamb in the morning was 
sunrise. Part of the priests who were on duty 
for the week, in order to be in readiness, slept in 



48 PUBLIC PRAYERS OF THE TEMPLE. 

a building in one of the courts of the Temple, 
and when the lamb was brought forth to be slain, 
the gates of the outer court were thrown open, 
and the trumpets sounded for the attendance of 
the rest of the priests, the Levites, and the Israr 
elites of the station, and then the sacrifice was 
slain. The evening services. commenced with a 
like sacrifice at the ninth hour of the day, or at 
three o'clock in the afternoon \ 

Public Prayers. 
Though public prayer, any more than the 
reading of the law, might not be considered by 
the high priest as any part of the duty over 
which he presided officially, because no directions 
are given respecting it by their lawgivers 5 , as 
there are in the case of sacrifices and offerings ; 
and though there might be no ministers of the 
Temple whose business it was to conduct the de- 
votions of the people , yet it is certain, not only 

a Acts iii. 1. 

b The ancient Jews, however, not only considered the com- 
mand, Deut. x. 12, " Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, ,! 
&c. as signifying prayer, but they put the same construction 
upon Deut. x. 12, " What doth the Lord thy God require of 
thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and 
to love him, and to nerve the Lord thy God with all thy heart 
and soul ?" Szc. ; for they compare this and other similar pas- 
sages with Exod. xxiii. 24, 25, &c. where to bow down to the 
gods of the heathen, and to serve them, evidently means to 
worship, or to pray, as well as sacrifice to them. See Selden's 
Works, London, 1726, vol. i. lib. iii. cap. iii. p. 286. See also 
note, page 2 of this Treatise. 

* Vitringa de Syn. Vet. prol. p. 51. 



IN THE TIME OF CHRIST. 49 

that prayer from the first always constituted a 
prominent and material part of the services of the 
Temple, but that it was practised under a divine 
sanction. This is evident from expressions in 
Solomon's prayer at the dedication of this mag- 
nificent building 3 , and from our Lord's quotation 
of Isaiah b , when he cleared the outer court of the 
buyers and sellers ; u My house shall be called 
a house of prayer for all nations." One of the 
chief distinctions of the Temple, then, was this; 
it was denominated by God himself not a house 
of sacrifice, but a house of prayer, and thither 
the tribes of Israel went up to give thanks unto 
the name of Jehovah c . And, as Lewis observes d , 
" It is certain that prayers were daily put up 
together with their offerings ; and though we have 
very few constitutions concerning them, yet the 
constant practice of the Jewish church, and the 
particular forms of prayer yet extant in their 
writings, are sufficient evidence. For this pur- 
pose they had liturgies, or prescribed forms, 
which may be proved to have been in use from 

a 1 Kings vhl 33, 34. 

* Matth. xxi. 13. Isaiah lvi. ?. See also Eccl. v. 1, 2, 
which evidently alludes to prayer : " Keep thy foot when 
thou goest into the house of God -, and be more ready to hear 
than to offer the sacrifice of fools," &c. " Be not rash with 
thy mouth, and let not thy heart be hasty to utter any thing 
before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth.; there- 
fore let thy words be few." See also 1 Maccabees, vii. 37. 

c Ps. cxxii. 4. 

d Origines Hebrcece, Antiquities, &c. vol, ii.book iii. ch. xix. 
and book iv. ch. xiii. p. 557- 

D 



50 PUBLIC PRAYERS OF THE TEMPLE 

the infancy of the Hebrew nation." Some of 
these forms are given by Lightfoot% as used in 
the Temple; all of which are indeed specimens 
of prayer as clearly social as can well be ima- 
gined. 

As soon as the lamb for the morning sacrifice 
was slain, the presiding officer, a priest, and 
who was called the Chief Priest for the time, 
summoned the rest to prayers in the room 
called Gazith, in one of the courts of the Tem- 
ple, which they used as an oratory b , or chapel, 
whilst the sacrifice was preparing. They began 
with the following : " Thou hast loved us, O 
Lord our God, with an everlasting love. With 
great and abundant compassion hast thou had 
compassion upon us, O our Father, our king ; for 
our fathers' sake, who trusted in thee, and thou 
gavest them statutes of life. So be gracious to 
us also, O our Father. O most merciful Father, 
O thou compassionate one, pity us; and put it 
into our hearts to know, understand, obey, learn, 
teach, observe, do, and perform all the words of 
the doctrine of the law in love. Enlighten our 
eyes by the law, cause our hearts to cleave to thy 

a Temp. Serv. ch. ix. sect. 4. p. 108. 

* For public prayers, says Lightfoot. (Temp. Serv. ch. xiii. 
sect. 4.) And though Vitringa speaks of this part of the 
prayers as private, because he considered them as the prayers 
of the officiating priests only, yet even in this case they were 
social ; and if the Israelites of the station attended, then they 
were public also, for these officers were the representatives of 
the people. Vitringa de Syn. Vet. prol. cap. v. p. 50. 



IN THE TIME OF CHRIST. 51 

commandments, and unite our hearts to love and 
fear thy name," &c. After this they repeated 
the ten commandments, and their phylacteries % 
or what they called the " Schemah." 

After this the high priest, or in his absence one 
of the other priests, prepared to offer the burnt 
incense ; and the rest of the public prayers, says 
Lightfoot, commenced. But before they began, 
a large vessel of metal was sounded, which an- 
swered the purpose of a great bell, to give notice 
to the inhabitants of the city that this part of the 
services was about to begin, and to summon them 
to attend. As soon as the incense was offered^ 
upon notice of this being given, all the people in 
the court began their prayers b , as it is observed 

a Lightfoot, ch. ix. sect. 4. Upon their phylacteries, (jpv- 
TiMKTqgtx, conservatories, intended to keep the law in the me- 
mory, from QuTidima, to guard, or keep,) which were two 
pieces of parchment worn by the more zealous at least con- 
stantly, the one on the forehead, and the other on the left 
arm, were written the following texts -, i. Exod. xiii. 3« — 10. 
ii. Exod. xiii. 11 — 16. in. Deut. vi. 4 — 9. iv. Deut. xi. 
13—21. Whether the phylacteries were worn or not, all the 
Jews were considered as under an obligation to repeat the 
sentences written upon them, both morning and evening, 
wherever they might be at the time appointed, and if possible 
in the Temple. Vitringa, however, affirms, from Maimonides, 
that the texts which were repeated on this occasion were 
those which constituted the " Schemah," so called from the 
Hebrew word with which they begin : they were the follow- 
ing 5 Deut. vi. 4—9, xi. 19— 21. Numb. xv. 37— 41. But 
this is of little consequence, except as it serves to show the 
care which this laborious writer has taken to verify every 
thing which he asserts. Vitringa, lib. iii. pars ii. cap. xvL 
p, 1052. 

b Lightfoot's Temp. Serv. ch. ix. sect. v. p. 111. 
O 2 



52 PUBLIC PilAYERS OF THE TEMPLE 

in Luke 1 and 10, " The whole multitude of the 
people were praying without/' (that is,in the outer 
court called the court of the women, because they 
were admitted there,) u at the time of incense." 

Besides the prayers just mentioned, the deca- 
logue, and phylacteries, or schemab, three or 
four other prayers are given by Lightfoot, which 
were used in the morning and evening services ; 
the first of which related to their phylacteries, 
and the last is as follows: " Give peace, bene- 
ficence, benediction, favour, benignity, and mercy 
to us, and to Israel thy people. Bless all of us as 
one man with the light of thy countenance; for 
in the light of thy countenance, thou, O Lord our 
God, hast given us the law of life, and love, and 
benignity, and righteousness, and blessing, and 
mercy, and life, and peace. And let it please 
thee to bless thy people Israel with peace at all 
times, and every moment. Blessed art thou^ O 
Lord, who blessest thy people Israel with peace. 
Amen a ." It is impossible to invent a prayer 
more evidently social than this. The gloss upon 
the Talmud moreover tells us, These were the 
people's prayers b . At the conclusion a short 
prayer was added on the sabbath, as a blessing, by 
the course of priests that went out upon the course 

a Prideaux and Vitringa give this prayer as one of those that 
were used in the Synagogue : but this is not at all extraordi- 
nary ; for the same prayers were used there as in the Temple, 
with considerable additions. Prideaux Conn, part i. book vi„ 
p. 178. Vitringa de Syn. Vet. lib. iii. pars ii. p. 1038. 

b Lightfoot, chap. ix. sect. 6. 



IN THE TIME OF CHRIST. 53 

that was coming in, as follows : " He that causeth 
his name to dwell- in his house, cause to dwell 
among you love, and brotherhood, and peace, and 
friendship a . At the conclusion of these prayers, 
the Priests, standing upon the steps leading into 
the Temple, pronounced a blessing upon the peo- 
ple in the words recorded Numb. vi. 24. b The 
meat-offering in behalf of the people, and another 
for the priests, were then offered, and lastly the 
drink-offering. The whole was concluded with 
singing, accompanied by instrumental music ; 
and as this was from the first one of the most di- 
stinguished parts of the services of the Temple, 
and relates immediately to our subject, it may be 
proper to give a general statement of the manner 
in which it was conducted. 



a 2 Cor. xiii. 1 1 . *> Luke i. 21, 22. 

c Nothing has been here said about the reading of the law 
by the high priest to the people, because this is nGt included 
in our subject; but the time for this purpose, says Vitringa, was 
when the sacred rites were finished. But what, as this writer 
asks, does Jesus mean when be says, Matth. xxvi. 55, I sat 
daily with you teaching in the Temple, &c. ? In the Syna- 
gogue, when the Scriptures were read, out of respect the rea- 
der stood, but sat down when he afterwards expounded them, 
and taught the people. Does not this observation of Christ 
indicate, that a similar mode of teaching was in use in both 
these places? From various circumstances indeed it is evident, 
that the manner in which the religious services weie conduct- 
ed in the Temple bore a considerable resemblance to those of 
the Synagogue, as far as they were introduced into the latter. 
Vitringa also observes, that in one of the courts of the Temple 
itself there was a house for prayers, for reading the law, and 
expounding, consecrated expressly for these purposes. Vi- 
tringa de Syn. Vet. prol. cap. iv. p. 27, 36 — 39. 



54 MUSIC OF THE TEMPLE SERVICE 

Music of the Temple Service. 

David appears to have instituted this part of 
the services at the time when he recovered the 
ark from the Philistines, appointed singers and 
instrumental performers to conduct it, and com- 
posed psalms for their use a . These officers were 
the Levites, with some Israelites of distinction, 
and their children were occasionally permitted to 
assist them* One individual presided over each 
department : Asaph was the chief appointed by 
David b . The vocal was always considered as the 
principal part, and the instrumental an accompa- 
niment only. The requisite number of singers was 
twelve, and as many more were allowed as could 
conveniently attend : they were always very nu- 
merous c * 

The psalms that were regularly sung in the 
ordinary service were the following : on the 1st 
day of the week, Ps. 24th, on the 2d the 48th, on 
the 3d the 84th, on the 4th the 94th, on the 5th 
the 91st, on the 6th the 93d, and on the sabbath 
the 92d> " It is a good thing to give thanks unto 
the Lord," &c. which bears the title of a psalm 
for the sabbath. These psalms were sung con- 

a He would scarcely have done this, however, if these ser- 
vices had been inconsistent with the official duties of the Le- 
vites, or if they had not been included in those duties, as ap- 
pointed by Moses. That they were so, may perhaps be infer- 
red from Deut. x. 8. 

h 1 Chron. xv. 16, &c. xvi. 4— 7- 

c Lewis's Antiquities, vol. ii. book. ii. chap. 20. Lightfoot's 
Temp. Serv. chap. vii. sect. 2. 



IN THE TIME OF CHRIST. 55 

stantly throughout the year ; but on certain days 
others were added, as on the sabbath especially, 
when at the time the additional sacrifice was of- 
fered, the Levites recited the song of Moses in 
Deut. xxxii. " Hear, O heavens," &c. But this 
song was divided into six parts, one of which was 
sung each sabbath in succession. At the addi- 
tional evening sacrifice, they recited the song of 
Moses, which is recorded Exod. xv., in the same 
manner. At the feast of trumpets a on the first 
day of the year, they sang in the morning after 
the additional sacrifice for that day the 81st Psalm, 
and in the evening of the same day the 29th. At 
the passover they recited or sang six additional 
psalms b . 

But it is the manner in which the sing-ins: was 
conducted that deserves the chief attention, as 
proving indisputably the perfectly social nature 
of this part of the service. " The singers," says 
Lightfoot c , " divided each of these psalms into 
three parts, making a considerable pause at the 

a So called because the new year was ushered in with the 
sound of trumpets. Numb, xxviii. 9, 10. xxix. 1, 2. 

b At the dedication of the second Temple, after the return 
from the Babylonian captivity, the 146th, 147th and 148th 
Psalms seem to have been sung.; for in the Septuagint they 
are entitled " Psalms of Haggai and Zachariah," as if they 
had been composed by them for the occasion. Prideaux's Conn, 
part i. book iii. Lewis's Ant. vol. ii. chap. xix. And to this 
it may be added that the 120th and 14 following Psalms have 
been said to be entitled " songs of the steps," (not degrees,) be- 
cause they were sung on the steps which led from the court 
into the Temple. 

c Chap. viL sect. 2. 



56 MUSIC OF THE TEMPLE SERVICE 

end of each part ; and when the singing and mti- 
sicjd instruments stopped, in the intervals the 
trumpets sounded and the people worshiped," 
not by bowing the head only, but by responses, 
thus expressing their participation and concur- 
rence, This then was clearly social worship : it 
was conducted by the Levites, and the people 
joined in it throughout. 

From the whole of this account, then, it is evi- 
dent that the entire service of the Temple was 
not only public, but as social as possible. It was 
the service of the whole people, conducted by 
officers appointed for this purpose. 

The mode of prayer, it is true, was probably 
different from that in use among Christians. 
There is no proof that they had any minister to 
conduct this part of the services, and Prideaux 
says, that every one repeated what prayers he 
thought proper according to his own conceptions, 
referring: to the instance of the Pharisee and 
publican, as mentioned by Christ a . It appears 
however from Lightfoot's and other accounts of 
these services, on the best authority, that they 
had forms, and of these several have been given. 
The comment moreover upon the Talmud says 
expressly b , that these were the prayers of the 
people ; and Maimonides c observes that their 

a Luke xviii. 10, &c. b Temp. Serv. ch. ix. sect. 6. 

c Maimonides, who lived about the end of the eleventh cen- 
tury of the Christian aera, was the most learned and least su- 
perstitious of the Jewish writers. " He was the Jewish oracle," 



IN THE TIME OF CHRIST. 57 

prayers were at first free, and unrestricted with 
respect both to time and forms, but that after their 
return from the Babylonian captivity, they made 
use of forms, and at stated times a . And with respect 
to the Temple service, the fact evidently was, that 
at the times of morning and evening' sacrifice they 
had public prayers, in which all the people joined, 
either personally or by their representatives ; and 
the outer court of the Temple being constantly 
open during the day, individuals went thither at 
other times, when they pleased, each to offer up 
his own prayer in his own thoughts and words; 
so that to infer from the instance of the Pharisee 
and publican, that all the prayers offered in the 
Temple were private, or individual and unsocial, 
would be just as reasonable as if a stranger who 
had never attended the religious worship of the 
Roman Catholics in the present day, should con- 
clude that they had no public prayers, because he 
happened to go into one of their chapels when 
two or three individuals were repeating their 
prayers separately, as is commonly seen to be 
the case, after the public services are concluded. 

says Lewis, "an author, as Cuneus observes, above our highest 
praise ,* the only man of that nation who had the good fortune 
to understand what it is to write seriously, and to the pur- 
pose." (Preface to his Ant. p. 74.) Lightfcot and Vitringa 
have made ample use of his works, which treat at large of the 
services of the Temple and the Synagogue. He made an ex- 
cellent Abridgment of the Talmud, and "for this and his other 
works," says Prideaux, "he was esteemed the best writer 
among the Jews." Prideaux's Conn, part i. book v. p. 228. 
a Vitringa de Syn. Vet. lib. iii. pars ii. cap. xiv. p. 1032. 

D 5 



58 MUSIC OF THE TEMPLE SERVICE 

Whilst the Jews had forms of prayer which they 
were required to repeat at least three times a 
day % once in private, and if possible at the morn- 
ing* and evening service in the Temple, they were 
at liberty to use each for himself any other 
prayers he might think proper. And as it was 
considered to be the duty of all, who could, to be 
present at public prayers, considerable numbers 
usually attended on these occasions, as appears 
from Luke i. 10. b This then was at least prayer 
in society ; and as they were in the habit of repeat- 
ing the same forms, it was not individual and sepa- 
rate, but prayer in conjunction, or strictly social. 
However, the following circumstancesare decisive: 
Whilst the people themselves were praying in the 
cuter court, the officers of the Temple, called the 
Israelites of the Station, who were the delegates 
of the people, were repeating the prayers in their 
behalf. And if they had no priest, or minister, 
to lead their devotions , the reason appears to 

a Such was the practice of David and Daniel. Ps. lv. 17- 
Dan. vi. 10. 

* Or the account attributed to him, which, if spurious, was 
still written at a very early period, and is sufficient authority 
for a fact of this kind, mentioned as it is incidentally, and 
without design. Zach arias, the officiating priest for the time, 
being detained longer than usual, as we are informed, by a 
vision in the Temple, the whole multitude that had been 
praying without in the court of the women, were waiting for 
him j and the reason of this was, that having finished their 
public prayers, they were expecting the benediction which the 
officiating priests always pronounced at the conclusion of this 
part of the services, (v. 22.) Lightfoot's Temp. Serv. ch. ix. 
sect. vL 

c It is not proved, at least, that there was no such leader. 



IN THE TIME OF CHRIST. 59 

have been this ; " The offering of incense/' as 
Prideaux observes % u upon the golden altar in 
the Holy Place, at every morning and evening 
service in the Temple, at the time of the sacrifice, 
was instituted on purpose to offer up unto God 
the prayers of the people, who were then without 
praying unto him. And hence it was that St. 
Luke tells us, that while Zacharias went into the 
Temple to burn incense, ' the whole multitude 
were praying without at the time of incense.' 
And for the same reason it is that David prayed, 
' Let my prayers be set before thee as incense, 
and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sa- 
crifice b .' And according to this usage is to be 
explained what we find in Revelation (ch. viii. 
4, 5), for there it is said, < An angel came and 
stood at the altar, having a golden censer, and 
there was given unto him much incense, that he 
should offer it up with the prayers of all saints 
upon the golden altar, which was before the 
throne; and the smoke of the incense^, which came 

Perhaps the Israelites of the Station were considered as such: 
they were denominated the angels of the people, like the 
reader of the prayers in the Synagogue. Or if not, there is 
a passage in Joel, already quoted (p. 41), ch. ii. 15 — 17, in 
which, when the congregation of all the people were gathered 
together, the priests are commanded to offer up prayers in 
their behalf, between the porch of the Temple and the altar. 
This probably was not inconsistent with the usual practice. 
See also 1 Maccabees, vii. 36, 37- 

a Conn, parti, book vi. p. 383 ; Godwins Moses and Aaron, 
lib. ii. ch. i. p. 64. 

b Ps. cxlL 2. 



60 THE RELIGIOUS WORSHIP 

with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before 
God out of the angel's hands,' " &c. However 
inconsistent it may be with the more rational and 
enlightened devotion required by the Christian 
religion, it is clear that this practice gave a unity 
to the public prayers of the Temple, and rendered 
the whole perfectly social. To this it may be 
added, that all the people joined throughout in 
the prayers of the Synagogue, as will appear here- 
after; and it is properly observed, that the Syna- 
gogue service was set up, not in opposition to that 
of the Temple, or to supply its deficiencies, but 
in support of it; and consequently, with the ex- 
ception of the sacrifices andlevitical offices, all the 
services of the Synagogue were framed as nearly 
in conformity with those of the Temple as pos- 
sible a . From all this then it is evident, that the 
whole services of the Temple, including prayer, 
which was practised there under a divine sanction, 
and praises, constituted public social worship. 

SECTION III. 
The religious Worship of the Synagogue* 

The importance of the religious worship of 
the ancient Synagogue in reference to our sub- 
ject, is manifest from several considerations ; and 
in the first place, from its antiquity, Whether, 

a Vitringa de Syn. Vet. prol. cap. iv. p. 27* 



OF THE SYNAGOGUE. 61 

indeed, there existed synagogues, or places of 
worship similar to them, by whatever name they 
might be known, before the Babylonian captivity, 
is subject of dispute. Prideaux endeavours to 
prove there were not a . This opinion however is 
not supported by sufficient evidence, and there are 
various circumstances which afford the strongest 
indications that such places did exist before that 
time. The Israelites, for instance, had but one 
tabernacle before the prosperous reign of Solo- 
mon, and afterwards but one temple at Jerusa- 
lem. Three times a year all the males were re- 
quired to resort thither for religious purposes ; 
but what became of their stated public worship 
of God in all other places during the rest of the 
year? The services of the Temple were ob- 
served with great solemnity and exactness ; but 
this place, during these periods, would be attend- 
ed only by the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Had 
the rest of the nation, that is, a great majority of 
the people, no stated public worship, whilst at 
Jerusalem it was observed with so much care 
and regularity ? This is incredible. The sab- 
bath, according to the design of its institution, was 
" sanctified and holy unto the Lord b ,'' that is, it 
was consecrated to religious purposes. Moses him- 
self, moreover, gave an express command in the 
name of Jehovah, that there should be statedly 

a Conn, part i. book iv. p. 387. 
b Exod. xx. 8, and xxxk 14, 15. 



t)2 THE RELIGIOUS WORSHIP 

and regularly " holy convocations" on this day*. 
And what could these holy con vocations be but as- 
semblies for public worship, hearingthe law, &c? 
These assemblies also must meet in every consi- 
derable town throughout the country, if they met 
at all; for the command given to them was, "Let 
no man go out of his place on the seventh day b ;" 
and accordingly a sabbath-day's journey was less 
than a mile. Had they no covered buildings, then, 
in which to perform their religious services, or did 
they meet in the open air ? Prideaux thinks the 
proseuchae were the only places besides the Tem- 
ple to which they resorted for prayer . But in the 
first place, these buildings seem to have been al- 
together unfit for stated public worship, as they 
appear to have consisted of walls only, without a 
covering, and consequently assemblies of people 
could scarcely be supposed to meet in them stated- 
ly, at all seasons, for religious services^. These 

a Lev. xxiii. 2,3. Exod. xii. 16. 

b Exod. xvi.29. 

c Those who lived at a distance from the Tabernacle, he 
observes, while that was in being, and afterwards from the 
Temple, when that was built, not being able at all times to 
resort thither, built courts, like those in which they prayed 
at the Tabernacle and at the Temple, therein to offer up their 
prayers unto God, which in aftertimes we find called by the 
name of Proseuchce. Connexion, part i. book vi. p. 387. 

d " The court in which the Temple stood, and that without 
called the court of the women, were built round with stately 
buildings and cloisters ; and the gates entering thereinto were 
very beautiful and sumptuous. And the outer court, which 
was a large square encompassing all the rest of 750 feet on 
every side, was surrounded with a most stately and magnifi- 



OF THE SYNAGOGUE. 63 

places, moreover, were never erected in towns, 
but always without in the open country, as was 
that in which Christ spent the night on a moun- 
tain, and another near Philippi, by the side of a 
river, where Paul taught the women that resort- 
ed thither a . They seem to have been designed 
for the retirement of individuals for the purpose 
of prayer, whenever they thought proper, and not 
for public worship 13 . Again, it may be inquired. 
How came the Jews, after their return from Ba- 
bylon, to erect synagogues in all their towns, for 
the purpose of public worship, as well as the 
reading of the law, if before that time there had 
been none ? Their proneness to idolatry, imme- 
diately before their captivity, does not appear to 
be sufficient to account for this astonishing and 
universal change in their religious customs. As 
to the form and the name of the buildings, these 
are of no importance. The question is, Had they 

cent cloister, sustained by three rows of pillars on three sides 
of it, and by four on the fourth. This was the case with the 
first Temple; and in process of time all the outbuildings were 
restored, so that in Herod's time the second Temple came 
little short of the former. These cloisters afforded convenient 
shelter to the people in time of rain." Prideaux's Conn. 
parti, book iii. p. 145. Had the proseuchae any such accom- 
modations ? If so, they might be used for public prayer. 

a Acts xvi. 13, 16. In the 16th verse the original word 
proseuche probably refers to the place. 

b Godwin, however, expresses a doubt whether the pro- 
seuchae were not the same as their schools and synagogues, 
the former of which were as common as the latter, and were 
used for the purpose of religious instruction. See his " Moses 
and Aaron," p. 72. 



u 



THE RELIGIOUS WORSHIP 



not in all their considerable towns regular assem* 
blies at stated times, and especially on the sab- 
bath, for public worship, the hearing of the law, 
andreceivingreiigious instruction ? If they had, of 
which there £an surely be little doubt, they would 
of course meet in covered buildings for these pur- 
poses, though it is not of any consequence by 
what name these places were known, or in what 
form they were erected. The fact seems to be, 
that the services of the synagogues, and conse- 
quently the buildings themselves, gradually rose 
out of the common religious worship of the He- 
brews, various as it might be in some of its forms, 
in the different periods of their existence as 
a people. The patriarchs worshiped God by 
prayer and sacrifice, together with their families 
or tribes, as stated before, at altars erected in the 
different places where they happened to reside. 
But when collected together, as their numbers 
increased, and living in towns and cities, they 
would naturally be more inclined to associate, as in 
every thing else, so in the performance of religi- 
ous services also ; they would meet in larger as- 
semblies, and in more convenient places for this 
purpose. Hence, says Godwin a , " The origin 
of synagogues is uncertain; but they probably be- 
gan when the tribes were settled in the Holy 
Land, for the distance from Jerusalem would ne- 
cessarily prevent their attending public worship 

a Moses and Aaron, lib. ii. eh. i. p. /0. 



OF THE SYNAGOGUE. 65 

there." Those who favour this opinion quote 
Ps. lxxiv. 8, " Thine enemies have burnt up all 
the synagogues of the land;" and this text indeed 
evidently proves, that when this psalm was com- 
posed, such places were numerous ; and if the 
title of it can be depended upon, it was used in 
the time of Asaph, and consequently of David or 
Solomon. It is nothing to the purpose to observe, 
as Prideaux does, that the original may be ren- 
dered, " all the assemblies of God a ," and that no 
version but that of Aquila translates it " syna- 
gogues;" for to found an argument on this cir- 
cumstance would be to quibble about a name ; 
and if this were even insisted upon, synagogue is 
not an improper translation ; for this word signi- 
fies a meeting, or assembly, and is applied both 
to the congregation, and the building in which 
they are collected together. Prideaux however 
admits 5 , that the word in this passage necessarily 

a Buxtorf renders the word in this passage, te Conventus, 
id est, coiwentuwn loca, synagogas." It is the same word that 
occurs in the 4th verse, to which he gives the same significa- 
tion, so that the English version will be, " Thine enemies roar 
in the midst of thy synagogues." The whole passage, from 
the second verse to the 8th inclusive, clearly implies that 
there were many more places or* religious worship in the 
country besides the Tabernacle, or the Temple. See Buxtorf T s 
Hebrew Lexicon on the word ijno, from iy, coudiocit, indixit> 
constituit. The Hebrew name, according to the Jewish rab- 
bies, for synagogues, is nnaiJn jvn, the House of the Congrega- 
tion, the Meeting-House. This name is also sometimes given 
to the schools, which were generally attached to the syna- 
gogues. Reland's Hebrew Antiquities, pars i. cap. xvi. p. 5J - y 
Buxtorf s Syn. Jud. 1. i. p.i. cap. x., and his Lexicon. 

b Connexion, part i. book iv. p. 38/. 



66 THE RELIGIOUS WORSHIP 

refers to the buildings where the people met for 
religious services ; which is all that our present 
purpose requires 3 . Another passage in the Acts, 
ch. xv, 21, is also considered as contributing to 
establish the same fact ; " For Moses of old time," 
or, more properly, " Moses from ancient genera- 
tions in every city hath those who preach him, 
being read in the synagogues every sabbath-day. 5 ' 
The phrase u from ancient generations," it is 
true, is indefinite. But though it might possibly 
be used of three or four hundred years before that 
time, it seems more applicable to periods of ear- 
lier date. 

However, it is acknowledged by all parties, 
that after the return of the captive Jews from Ba- 
bylon, upwards of five hundred years before 
Christ b , synagogues, properly so called, soon be- 
gan to be erected; atfirst not many, but afterwards 
in considerable numbers ; for as it was lawful to 
build a synagogue in any place where ten persons 
with sufficient leisure to secure their regular at- 

a But he supposes that the places alluded to were the pro- 
seuchas, the schools of the prophets, or buildings in the cities 
of the Levites, to which the people resorted at certain times 
on a religious account. 

b The decree of Cyrus for their return was issued in the 
year 536 before Christ ; but it was not till some years after 
this, that, in consequence of other decrees by his successors, 
Ezra andNehemiah effected the complete restoration of all the 
Jews who chose to return, as well as the complete establish- 
ment of the Temple services, and the rebuilding of the city 
walls ; and then it would be a considerable time before syna- 
gogues could be erected generally throughout the country. 



OF THE SYNAGOGUE. 



67 



tendance on the stated services could be found, 
there was consequently no town of any size where 
the Jews resided, that had not at least one ; and 
in the time of Christ they were as common as pa- 
rish churches in this country at present. In Ti- 
berias, a city of Galilee, there were twelve, in 
Jerusalem no less than four hundred and eighty a . 
This was the case, too, at a time when the law of 
Moses was observed with a degree of scrupulo- 
sity which had never been exceeded ; for the suf- 
ferings of the Jews, in consequence of the Chal- 
dean conquests, had converted their former neg- 
lect of its sacred rites into superstitious venera- 
tion ; so that had the services of the Synagogue 
in any respect been inconsistent with this divine 
institution, their universal prevalence among a 
people in this state of mind, was impossible. 

In the time of Christ, then, the worship of the 
Synagogue may be said with propriety to have been 
the national worship of the Jews, much more so 
than even that of the Temple; for though the 
latter only included the sacrifices which the law 
appointed, the former, as it was more simple, 
more rational, and better adapted to general 
observance, was that which the great body of 
the people throughout the country universally 
attended. The number who statedly joined in 
the services of the Temple was small, compared 

a Prideaux, Conn, part i. book vi. p. 3J4 ; Godwin's Moses 
and Aaron, lib. ii. ch. i. p. 70 ; and all the other principal 
writers on the subject. In Jerusalem there was one for 
strangers called the Synagogue of the Libertines. Acts vi. 9. 



68 THE RELIGIOUS WORSHIP 

with those in Jerusalem and the other towns 
wherever the Jews dwelt, who regularly wor- 
shiped at the Synagogue. And when in addition 
to this circumstance, and the high antiquity of 
social worship in some form or other, it is consi- 
dered that Christ a and his apostles 5 gave a pre- 
ference to the services of the Synagogue, as was 
proved by their regular attendance upon them, 
wherever they might be on the sabbath, the im- 
portance of the worship of these places in refer- 
ence to our subject is sufficiently manifest, and 
seems to render the following statement of the 

a Matfch. iv. 16. 

h Acts xviii, 8, 17, and other passages. Christ might with 
perfect, consistency join in the social prayers of his country- 
men ; for they contained the principal doctrines which he him- 
self taught ; and nothing opposed to them ; as, the unity of 
God; his sole supremacy ; his essential and everlasting mercy ; 
his universal providence, and the resurrection of the dead ; 
without any thing like the Pagan mixtures of a father-God, 
the mother of God, a God the son, a God called the Holy 
Ghost, " proceeding from the Father and the Son" without a 
mother, and a multitude of inferior divinities called saints and 
angels, the natural successors of the numerous tribes of 
heathen deities, with the change in many instances of little 
else than the name, worshiped upon similar, nay in Italy even 
the same altars, and with rites, though less licentious, yet 
equally superstitious. In these prayers again, as in the teach- 
ing of Christ, not a syllable is to be found of vicarious suffer- 
ing, or vicarious obedience ; that is, the innocent suffering the 
punishment due to the guilty, and obeying the will of God in 
his stead ; nothing of salvation by faith in the merits of an- 
other, without good works ; nothing of satisfaction for sin, or 
of mercy exercised in the forgiveness of debts, when those 
debts have been fully paid ; not a syllable of unconditional 
election and reprobation, &c. From contradictions and ab- 
surdities like these, the prayers of the Jews and the instruc- 
tions of Christ are equally free. 



OF THE SYNAGOGUE. 69 

manner in which they were conducted highly 
proper and necessary. To all this it may be 
added, that the services of the Synagogue have 
been shown by Vitringa to have furnished the 
model upon which those of the primitive Chris- 
tian churches were formed ; and though this, no 
doubt, was without design, and the difference in 
some instances was considerable, yet as far as 
relates to our subject the resemblance was strik- 
ing and essential. 

The religious services of the Synagogue, then, 
consisted of prayer and praise, the reading of the 
law and other parts of the Old Testament Scrip- 
tures, with expounding them, and exhortation or 
preaching. Nor is it possible that any mode of 
prayer should be more completely social than 
that of the ancient Synagogue. 

For their prayers, as in the Temple, they had 
forms or liturgies ; nor were any other prayers 
made use of in the Synagogue a than those that 
were appointed. At first these prayers were 
few; but afterwards they increased so much in 
number, and were accompanied by so many cere- 
monial observances, that they at length equalled, 
if they did not surpass, the formal and supersti- 
tious worship of the Roman Catholic church b . 
That this was the case in a great measure in the 
time of Christ, is evident from his severe reproofs 

a Vitringa de Syn. Vet cap. iv. p. 43. 

J) Lewis's Antiquities, vol. ii. book iii. ch. xxii. 



70 THE RELIGIOUS WORSHIP 

of the dependence which they placed on the length 
and number of their prayers. 

The principal of them were the eighteen pray- 
ers a , so called by way of distinction^ and which 
were considered as the most important part of 
their liturgy. To these, one composed by Rabbi 
Samuel, called the Less, against Heretics, that is, 
the Christians, is said to have been added by 
Rabbi Gamaliel a short time before the destruc- 
tion of Jerusalem. These eighteen prayers are 
believed by the Jews to have been composed by 
Ezra, assisted by the members of the Great Syn- 
agogue, in his time, consisting of one hundred 
and twenty individuals, among whom were said 
to be three prophets, Haggai, Zachariah, and 
Malachi, if not Daniel. They are written in the 
purest Hebrew, and were required by Ezra to 
be always repeated in that language without va* 
riation, because after the return from Babylon, 
where the captive Jews had been accustomed to 
use the Chaldee, he perceived the Hebrew to be on 
the decline b . To these there were many additions 
in their liturgies, the whole including all the ne* 
cessary and most important subjects of prayer. 
But the eighteen prayers have always been held 
by the Jews in the greatest veneration, and have 
constantly formed a fundamental part of their li- 
turgies, wherever they have been dispersed. 

a Or " Schemon Esre." 

b Lewis's Antiquities, vol. ii. book iii. chap, xxii; Vitringa, 
lib. iii. pars ii. cap. xiv. p. 1032 j Prideaux's Conn, part i, 
book vi. p. 375. 



OF THE SYNAGOGUE. 71 

They are taken by Vitringa, together with the 
nineteenth, from the Tract of Maimonides, in 
which he gives an account of the series of Jewish 
prayers for the whole year, and are as follows a : 

i. " Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, the 
God of our fathers, the God of Abraham, of 
Isaac, and Jacob ; the great God, powerful, to 
be had in veneration ; the most high God, boun- 
tifully dispensing benefits ; the creator and pos- 
sessor of the universe, who rememberest the piety 
of our fathers, and in thy love bringest a re- 
deemer to their posterity for thy name's sake, O 
our king, our helper, our saviour, and our shield. 
Blessed art thou, O Lord, who art the shield of 
Abraham. 

ii. " Thou, O Lord, art powerful for ever. 
Thou givest life to the dead, and art mighty to 
save ; making the dew to descend, stilling the 
winds, sending down the rain upon the earth, 
sustaining all that live with thy beneficence, and 
of thy abundant mercy causing the dead to live 
again ; upholding those that are falling ; healing 
the sick; loosing them that are bounds and main- 
taining thy faithfulness to them that sleep in the 
dust. Who is like unto thee, O Lord, the most 
powerful ? Who is like unto thee, O King, who 
killest and makest alive, and who causest saiva- 

b These eighteen prayers were held in so much estimation, 
that the Jews were required to repeat th em twice a day either 
at home or in their synagogues, and also as frequently a con^ 
fession of faith in the unity of God. Vitr. p. 1032. 



72 THE RELIGIOUS WORSHIP 

tion to spring up and flourish again as the herb 
of the field? For thou art faithful to raise the 
dead to life again, Blessed art thou, O Lord, 
who raisest the dead to life. 

in. " Thou art holy, and thy name is holy, 
and thy saints do praise thee every day. Selah. a 
Blessed art thou, O Lord God most holy. 

iv. " Thou of thy mercy givest to men know- 
ledge, and teachest them understanding ; there- 
fore upon us bestow knowledge, wisdom, and 
understanding. Blessed art thou, O Lord, who 
of thy mercy givest knowledge unto men. 

v. " Bring us back, O our Father, to the ob- 
servance of thy law ; and cause us to adhere to 
thy precepts ; make us diligently to apply our- 
selves to thy worship, and turn us to thee by sin- 
cere repentance in thy presence. Blessed art 
thou, O Lord, who dost vouchsafe to accept our 
repentance. 

vi. " Be thou merciful to us, O our Father, 
for we have sinned ; pardon us, O our King, for 
we have transgressed thy commandments, because 
thou art a God, good and ready to forgive. 
Blessed art thou, O Lord most gracious, who mul- 
tipliest thy mercies in the forgiveness of sins. 

vii. " Look, we beseech thee, upon our afflic- 
tion ; defend us in all our contentions, plead our 
cause in all our litigations, and hasten our re- 

a Prideaux adds the following sentence here, " For a great 
King and holy art thou, OGod. Selah." I have inserted these 
eighteen prayers as they are given by Vitringa, 



OF THE SYNAGOGUE. 73 

demplion ; for thou art God, a mighty king, our 
redeemer, irresistible in power. Blessed art thou, 
OLord, the redeemer of Israel." 

viii, " Heal us, O Lord our God, and we shall 
be healed ; save us, and we shall be saved, be- 
cause thou art our praise. Grant us a perfect 
remedy for all our infirmities ; for thou art a 
God who givest health to the sick, and art mer- 
ciful. Blessed art thou, O God, who healest the 
diseases of thy people Israel." 

ix. "Bless us, O Lord our God, in all the 
works of our hands, and bless unto us the sea- 
sons of the year; and dispense the dew and the 
rain copiously upon the whole face of the land ; 
satisfy the world with thy blessings, and water 
the w hole habitable globe. Blessed art thou, O 
Lord, who givest thy blessings to the seasons of 
the year." 

x. "Convoke us together, by the sound of the 
great trumpet, to the enjoyment of our liberty, 
and lift up thy ensign to gather together into our 
own land all thy people that are scattered in 
exile, from the four quarters of the earth. Bless- 
ed art thou, O Lord, who gatherest together the 
exiles of thy people Israel." 

xi. "Restore unto us our Judges as in the 
beginning and our counsellors as at the first, and 
remove far from us affliction and trouble; and 
do thou reign over us in benignity and mercy, in 
righteousness and justice. Blessed art thou, G 

E 



74 THE RELIGIOUS WORSHIP 

Lord our king, who lovest righteousness and 
justice." 

xn. " To those that apostatize from religion 
let there be no hope ; and let all heretics, how 
many soever they may be, suddenly perish. And 
let the kingdom of pride be speedily rooted out, 
and broken to pieces in our days. Blessed art 
thou, O Lord our God, who destroyest the wick- 
ed, and humblest the proud a ." 

xiii. " Upon the pious and the just, upon the 
proselytes of justice 13 , and upon the remnant of 
thy people Israel, let thy mercies descend, O 
Lord our God ; and bestow a large reward upon 
all, whosoever they may be, who sincerely trust 
in thy name ; grant us our portion with them, 
and never let us be ashamed because we trust in 
thee. Blessed art thou, O Lord, who art the 
support and confidence of the just." 

xiv. " Dwell in the midst of Jerusalem thy 
city, as thou hast promised, and speedily in our 
days erect it with buildings that shall last for 
ever. Blessed art thou, O Lord, who buildest 
Jerusalem." 

a This is the blasphemous prayer against the Christians 
(called the 19th) which was added by Rabbi Gamaliel to the 
18 about the time of the destruction of Jerusalem. 

b The proselytes of justice were such as received the whole 
law, and conformed in all things to the Jewish religion. The 
proselytes of the gate were so called because they worshiped 
only in the outer court of the Temple, and were admitted no 
further than the gate leading into the inner court. They con- 
formed only to the seven precepts of the sons of Noah. 



OF THE SYNAGOGUE. 75 

xv. " Very speedily make the offspring of thy 

rvant David to flourish; let our horn be ex- 
alted in thy salvation ; for we hope for thy sal- 
vation every day. Blessed art thou, O Lord, 
who makest the horn of our salvation to flourish." 

xvi. " Hear our voice, O Lord our God, most 
merciful father, and spare and have mercy upon 
us; with compassion and benignity accept our 
prayers ; and send us not empty away, we be- 
seech thee, O our king, from thy presence; for 
thou mercifully hearest the prayer of thy people 
Israel. Blessed art thou, O Lord, who hearest 
prayer." 

xvn. "Be thou propitious, O Lord our 
God, to thy people Israel ; have regard unto 
their prayers ; bring back the levitical service 
to the inner part of thy house ; make haste to ac- 
cept with love and favour the burnt offerings of 
Israel, together with their prayers; and let the 
worship of thy people be well pleasing and ac- 
ceptable to thee. Blessed art thou, O Lord, who 
bringest back thy presence to ZionV 

xvin. " We w ill give thanks unto thee with 

i( the inner part of thy house" is meant the Holy of 
Holier into which the high priest only entered but once a 
year: and by "thy presence," the Shechinah. 

The second Temple wanted the original ark, with the mercy 
seat ; the Shechinah, or the symbol of the divine presence ; and 
the Urim and Thummim, by which the will of God on extra- 
ordinary occasions was made known ; so that there is nothing 
in this prayer inconsistent with the belief that it was com- 
posed by Ezra and the members of the Great Synagogue in 
his time. 

E 2 



76 THE RELIGIOUS WORSHIP 

praises continually ; for thou art the Lord our 
God, and the God of our fathers, the rock of our 
life, and the shield of our salvation. To all ge- 
nerations will we give thanks unto thee, and de- 
clare thy praise, because of our life which is in 
thy hands, and of our souls which are under thy 
care; because of thy signs which are constantly 
with us, and of thy wonders and thy bounties, 
which morning and noon and night are continual- 
ly before us. O thou beneficent Creator, whose 
tender mercies are not consumed ! O thou mer- 
ciful Father, whose loving kindnesses are infinite ! 
for ever do we hope in thee. For all these be- 
nefits, thy name be blessed and exalted for ever 
and ever ; and let all that live celebrate thy 
praise. Selah. And let them in truth praise thy 
name, O God of our salvation, and our help ! 
Selah. Blessed art thou, O Lord, whose name 
is good, and whose praise it is always right to ce- 
lebrate!" 

xix. a 6C Give peace, beneficence, and benedic- 
tion, favour, benignity and mercy, to us and to 
Israel thy people. Bless all ofus^ O our Father, 
as one man^ with the light of thy countenance. 
Thou hast given us, O Lord our God, the law of 
life ; and of thy favour alone thou hast followed 
us with love, benignity, benediction, mercy, life 
and peace. And let it please thee to bless thy 
people Israel at all times and every moment with 

a This prayer has been given before (page 52), as stated by 
Lightfoot to have been used in the Temple service. 



OF THE SYNAGOGUE. 77 

thy peace. Blessed art thou, O Lord, who bless- 
est thy people Israel with peace." 

Concerning these prayers, several remarks oc- 
cur; and 

First, Their high antiquity appears to some 
persons to be doubtful. This scepticism, however, 
seems to have arisen entirely from the circumstance 
that several of them have the appearance of hav- 
ing been w r ritten after the final destruction of Je- 
rusalem, and the dispersion of the Jews. But, 
says Prideaux a , " it is certain they are very an- 
cient, for mention is made of them in the Mish- 
nah b , as at that time old settled forms, and no 
doubt is to be made that they were used in our 
Saviour's timej at least most of them, if not all 
the eighteen ; and consequently that he joined in 
them with the rest of the Jews, whenever he went 
into their Synagogues, as he did every sabbath 
day." It is also deserving of attention, that the 
Jews themselves have always attributed the com- 
position, or the appointment of them for general 
use, to Ezra, with the assistance of the members 
of the Great Synagogue. And it is of considerable 
weight in favour of their antiquity, that they are 
written in the purest Hebrew, a circumstance 

a Connexion, part i. book vi. p. 575. 

h The Mishnah was compiled and published about the year 
150 of the Christian sera, and notwithstanding the fabulous 
and puerile traditions with which it abounds, in a matter of 
fact like that of the antiquity of the eighteen prayers, it is an 
authority perfectly satisfactory. Prideaux's Conn, part v. book 
yiii. p. 574. See Appendix, No. I. 



78 THE RELIGIOUS WORSHIP 

which in more modern times could scarcely Ijq 
expected. 

" And with respect to the prayers that have the 
appearance of having been composed after the 
final destruction of Jerusalem, which are chiefly 
the 10th, 11th, and 14th," as Prideaux also ob- 
serves % " these may refer to calamities of more 
ancient times." And it is worthy of remark, that 
several of the Psalms, the antiquity of which is 
unquestionable, are liable to the same objection ; 
for they contain complaints and prayers for the re- 
moval of similar calamities 13 . 

It is certain, however, there is nothing in the 
prayers in question inconsistent with the suppo- 
sition, that they were composed by Ezra, assisted 
by the members of the Great Synagogue , at the 
time when the Jews were not all returned from 
the captivity, (many of whom never did return,) 
but when they were in part still dispersed and 
scattered; when Jerusalem and their other cities 
were by no means completely restored, and when 
their religious services as well as the people them- 
selves were as yet in an unsettled state. To this it 

a Conn, part i. book vi. p. 275, the note. 

b Ps. liii. 6. lxxiv. 1—8. lxxviii. 60, 61, &c. lxxix. 1, &c. 
lxxx. cii. 16, 17- cvi. 47- cxxvi. 4. 

c The appellation of Synagogue was given by the Jews, not 
only to their places of worship and the congregations that as- 
sembled in them, but, as here, to a council of their principal 
elders. This is called the Great Synagogue, by way of distinc- 
tion. It consisted of a succession of members from the time 
of Ezra to that of Simon the Just, a period of about 200 
years. 



OF THE SYNAGOGUE. IV 

may be added, that Vitringa observes 3 from Mai- 
monides, that the three first and the three last only 
of these nineteen prayers were considered as stated 
forms never to be omitted ; whereas the thirteen in 
ths middle were variable, and others much shorter 
were allowed, when want of time and other cir- 
cumstances required, to be substituted for them. 
And if the three or four prayers that have given 
rise to doubts be admitted to have been composed 
after the final dispersion of the Jews, (though 
there is no necessity for this supposition,) still the 
high antiquity of the rest remains unim peached ; 
and being mentioned in the Mishnah " as old 
settled forms," but 150 years after the birth of 
Christ, there can be no rational doubt that they 
were used in all the Synagogues of his time, and 
consequently that he joined in them every sabbath. 
As however the Jews had also many other forms, 
besides the eighteen which they used in their Syn- 
agogues, comprising altogether the most impor- 
tant and necessary subjects of prayer, whatever 
might be taken from these, a sufficient number 
would remain that were indisputably ancient even 
in the time of Christ. Still these forms of devo- 
tion are highly important in reference to our sub- 
ject ; for it is impossible to invent prayers more 
social in their nature. They were evidently com- 
posed for public worship, in which all who attend- 
ed joined. 

a De Syn. Vet. lib. iii. pars ii. cap. xiv. p. 1039 & 1046, 
See also Lewis's Antiquities, vol. ii. book iii. ch. 22. 



80 



SECTION IV. 

The Manner in which the religious Worship of the 
ancient Synagogue was conducted. 

Nothing certainly could be more social than 
the manner in which the religious worship of the 
Synagogue was conducted: it bore considerable 
resemblance to the mode in use in the established 
church of this country at present. Their liturgy 
was read aloud by one individual, and the people 
signified their concurrence by responses through- 
out. This reader was chosen by the congrega- 
tion, anciently any elder ; and it was not till more 
modern times, that this became a regular office 
confined to a stated minister a . He was called the 
Angel or Legatus of the Synagogue, because he 
was deputed by the people to go before the ark 
to offer up their prayers to Jehovah b . 

a As the Jews said that prayer in the Synagogue was sub- 
stituted for sacrifice, and on this account the forms in the litur- 
gies of these places were more numerous than those used in the 
Temple, the minister who read the liturgy was considered as an 
officer corresponding to the priest ; and as no sacrifice was of- 
fered in the Temple but those that were appointed by the law, 
so no prayers w T ere presented in the Synagogue during the 
public services but the appointed prayers. Vitringa, prol. p. 43. 

b In the ancient as well as modern synagogues there was a 
pulpit or desk in which the law and other parts of the Old Tes- 
tament Scriptures were read and expounded ; but when the 
prayers were recited, the minister, under the idea that it was 
more consistent with humility, advanced before the desk on 
the floor near the ark, which was at one end of the building. 
Vitringa, p. 1023. 



WORSHIP OF THE ANCIENT SYNAGOGUE. SJ 

The following is a brief abstract of Vitringa's 
account of the manner in which the Liturgy was 
recited in the ancient Synagogue. The whole 
assembly being seated, the minister (the Angel 
or Legatus) advanced before the ark, and stand- 
ing in the midst of the people, began by reciting 
the prayer called a Cadish a ;" in which the people 
signified their participation and concurrence by 
joining in the several responses. The minister 
then recited the prayer called "Barechu;" to 
which the people replied, Blessed be thou 5 O Lord, 
for ever and ever. In the next place he repeated 

1 As this was esteemed by the Jews the most sacred of their 
prayers, and is that from which the Lord's prayer has been said 
to have been framed, I shall give Vitringa's translation of it 
from the Hebrew. Two of the petitions only are found in both, 
and in the rest cf them there is no great resemblance. The 
Lord's prayer seems to consist of a selection partly from this, 
and partly from other forms used in the social worship of the 
ancient Synagogue. " Magnificetur et sanctificetur nomen ejus 
magnum, in mundo quern secundum beneplaeitum suum cre- 
avit ; et regnare faciat regnum suum ; efflorescat redemptio 
ejus, et prsesto adsit Messias ejus, et populum suum liberet, 
in vita vestra et diebus vestris, et in vita totius domus Israelis, 
tdque quam ocyssime. Et dicite Amen, Amen, sit nomen ejus 
magnum benedictum in seculum et seculorum secula. Cele- 
bretur nomen ejus et extollatur memoria ejus in sempiternum 
et omnem aeternitatem. Celebretur, laudetur, condecoretur, 
exaitetur, efferatur, respiciatur, extollatur, et depradicetur 
nomen Sancti Benedicti Illius longe supra omnem benedictio- 
nem et canticum, iaudem et consoiationem, quae dicuntur in 
mundo. Et dicite, Amen, Recipe misericorditer et gratiose 
preees nostras. Accepts sint preces et desideria totius Israe- 
lis coram Patre eorum qui est in coslis ; et dicite Amen, sit no- 
men Domini benedictum ab hoc tempore usque in seculum, — 
Sit pax magna a ccelo et vita super nobis, et super toto Israele ; 
-et dicite Amen/ 1 See Appendix, .No. 2. 

E 5 



82 THE MANNER OF CONDUCTING 

the "Schemah a ," with the prayers and praises 
connected with it. The first of these is one of 
considerable length upon the creation and provi- 
dential government of the world ; and at the con- 
clusion of each, responses were pronounced by 
the congregation. 

When these were concluded, the whole assem- 
bly, rising upon their feet, repeated their prayers 
silently ; and when the minister had finished his, 
he began to recite with a loud voice the eighteen 
prayers before given : the people listened at- 
tentively, and joined in the responses at the end 
of each, both those who had just repeated these 
prayers in silence, and those who from incapacity 
or absence had not°. When the minister arrived 
at the third prayer, he pronounced a declaration 
of the promises of God. 

A solemn confession of sins, with supplication 
for pardon, followed the eighteen prayers, which 
was accompanied by prostration both of the mi- 
nister and the people. 

The second part of the prayer called u Cadish" 
was then rehearsed, with the responses annexed 
to it. "One or two other prayers followed, which 
were succeeded by the 145th Psalm, together 
with a declaration of the coming of the Messiah, 
and of the covenant of God with his people. 

a See page 51. 

b " Before these eighteen prayers were delivered by the mi- 
nister, every one repeated them in a low voice to himself, that 
he might be the better prepared for the solemn rehearsal of 
them afterwards." Lewis's Antiquities, vol. ii. book iii. ch. xxii. 



THE WORSHIP OF THE SYNAGOGUE. 83 

The minister next delivered a solemn declara- 
tion of the holiness of God ; to which the people 
replied, Holy, holy, holy art thou,0 Lord of Hosts ! 
After some brief supplications for divine mercy, 
the whole was concluded with a third repetition of 
the prayer " Cadish, " followed by the responses 
of the people. 

Such are the outlines of Vitringa's account 1 of 
the mode of worship observed in the ancient Syn- 
agogue. It was conducted with great solemnity; 
and with respect to the social nature of it, in ad- 
dition to the foregoing particulars, he observes b , 
" The prayers thus recited by the minister were 
not only received by the people with due reverence 
and attention, but also with responses and accla- 
mations agreeing with each prayer ; and by this 
means they testified their concurrence with the 
minister ." 

So perfectly social, then, was the mode of wor- 
ship which Christ and his apostles sanctioned by 
their regular attendance upon it. It has been 

a The preceding is extracted from his account of the morn- 
ing service : that for the evening was the same, with some 
small variations. 

■' Page 1092. 

c Buxtorf observes, that the prayers of the ancient Syna- 
gogue were recited in a sort of musical rhythmus, and that 
the responses of the people were accompanied with acclama- 
tions, and were very loud. This accords with expressions fre- 
quently occurring in the Psalms, viz. of shouting as well as 
singing the praises of Jehovah. His account of these services 
is contained in the 10th chapter of the edition by his son, 1680. 
Vitringa's however is far preferable. 



84 THE MANNER OF CONDUCTING 

observed, it is true, that we read of Christ teach- 
ing, and reading the Scriptures and expounding 
them in the synagogues, but never of his praying 
there. The reason of this however is extremely 
obvious. The prayers were the stated part of the 
synagogue services, in which all who attended re- 
gularly joined; it is therefore evident that no 
notice whatever would be taken of our Lord's 
joining in them, for this was a matter of course ; 
and when it is said that his custom was to attend 
the Synagogue on the sabbath, this expression 
will always be understood by those who have any 
respect for the common us^ge of language, as im- 
plying that he joined in the prayers like all 
the rest who were present. But the case is dif- 
ferent with reading the Scriptures, and expound- 
ing them ; for none were permitted to do this, 
but those who vvere called out from the assembly 
for this purpose by the minister. 

In his own city Nazareth, as a member of the 
Synagogue in that place, he was selected as the 
reader of the lesson for the day, and took occa- 
tsion, as was usual, to comment upon it. This, 
herefore, especially as the passage was extreme- 
ly remarkable, having reference to himself as the 
Messiah, it was very natural and proper for the 
historian to notice. But this very circumstance 
of his being selected as the reader, proves that he 
was present at the prayers. In all other places, 
when he taught the people, it was according to 



THE WORSHIP OF THE SYNAGOGUE. 85 

the custom, after the reading of the law and the 
prophets was concluded a . And thus did St. Paul 
at Antioch ; which also being remarkable, espe- 
cially with respect to the subject of his teaching, 
it was proper for the historian to mention. If a 
stranger happened to preach at any of our places 
of worship in the present day, those who heard 
him would naturally mention this circumstance to 
their friends, particularly if there were anything 
singular either in his manner or his subject. But 
who would think of observing that he was present 
at the prayers, and joined in them with the others ? 
His being there to preach implied this. No person, 
therefore, who pays any attention to the meaning 
which general custom has assigned to these ex- 
pressions, can doubt that when it is said, it was 
the custom of Christ and his apostles to attend 
the Synagogue on the sabbath day, this implies, 
that they constantly joined in the usual services 
of these places ; and we see at once, that so uni- 
versal and so long established was the practice of 
social prayer in the habits of their countrymen, 
that it would never occur to them to give a par- 
ticular command to enforce the observance of it, 
as if it were something new, or generally neg- 
lected. 

In addition to this, we are informed by the Evan- 
gelists, that Christ also celebrated the Passover 
with his disciples ; and as this was not only a re- 

a See Prideaux's Conn, part i. book vi, p. 380- 



86 THE MANNER OF CONDUCTING 

ligious ceremony, but was accompanied by prayers 
and praises altogether as social as those of the 
Synagogue, it may be proper to add a brief ac- 
count of the manner in which this festival was ob- 
served, as affording another indisputable proof, 
that Christ approved of social worship, and re- 
commended it to his followers by his example a . 
On the day of the Passover the people formed 
themselves into companies of such a number as 
one lamb would serve, according to the Mosaic 
institute 13 . These lambs were all brought to the 
Temple to be slain, with certain ceremonies, by 
the priests ; and whilst this was done, the Levites 
were employed in an act of praise, which consist- 
ed of singing the 1 1 3th and five following Psalms c ; 
and as the number of lambs to be slain was very 
considerable, and the Levites continued to sing 
these psalms during the whole time, they usually 
had to repeat them more than once or twice. This 
singing was introduced by a prayer, and during 
the whole of the former, all the people who were 
present joined with the Levites at frequent inter- 
vals, either by singing Hallelujah d , or some pas- 

a Lightfoot's Temple Service, chap. iii. p. 125. See also 
Lewis's Hebrew Antiquities. 

b Exod. xii. 4. 

c The Psalms were sung by the Levites with the same re- 
sponses of the people on eighteen days in the year, at the dif- 
ferent festivals. 

d See Rev. xix. 1 — 6. The Hallelujah there described bears 
considerable resemblance to Lightfoot's account of the singing 
in the Temple at the Passover, except that the former greatly 
excelled the latter in grandeur. 



THE WORSHIP OF THE SYNAGOGUE* 87 

sages of the psalms just mentioned. When the 
paschal lambs were slain, they were taken home 
by the different companies to which they belonged, 
to be eaten in the evening with manyceremonies a 
besides thanksgiving and singing. At the paschal 
supper the chief of the company, an elder, and if 
a family, the head of it, recited the prayers and 
thanksgivings in the name of the rest, who joined 
with him by responses. Among the several forms 
of devotion used on this occasion, the following 
is the tenour of that which was recited over the 
wine : " Blessed art thou, O Lord, who hast 
created the fruit of the vine. Blessed be thou 
for this good day, and for this holy convocation 
which thou hast given us for joy and rejoicing. 
Blessed be thou, O Lord, who hast sanctified Is- 
rael." &c. Another thanksgiving was the fol- 
lowing: "O Lord our God, let all thy works 
praise thee, and the saints, the righteous that do 
thy will, and thy people of the house of Israel, 
all of them with acclamation. Let them praise, 
and magnify, and exalt, and sing aloud the name 
of thy glory with honour and rejoicing for remem- 
brance of thy kingdom ; for it is good to praise 
thee, and lovely to sing unto thy name. Thou 
art God for ever and ever. Blessed be thou, O 
Lord our king, who art greatly to be praised. 
Amen." The president concluded thus : " Let 

d Such as washing, eating bitter herbs, and the peace-offering, 
besides the paschal lamb. For the whole account, see Light- 
foot, p. 12*5. 



88 



THE MANNER OF CONDUCTING 



the soul of all living bless thy name, O Lord our 
God, and let the spirit of all flesh glorify and 
exalt thy memorial for ever, O our king. For 
thou art our God for ever, and besides thee we 
have no king, redeemer, or saviour." Before the 
concluding benediction, they sang what the Evan- 
gelist calls a hymn, that is, they recited the six 
psalms mentioned before. 

It was the custom for the company to drink 
four cups of wine on this occasion. The third cup 
was called the cup of blessing, partly because the 
blessing, or grace after meat, was said over it, as 
terminating the meal ; and chiefly to distinguish 
it from the first cup, for over that as well as this 
a particular blessing or thanksgiving was uttered. 
The apostle Paul alludes to this custom when 
he mentions the cup of blessing, 1 Cor. x. 16. 
And the excesses of the Christian professors to 
whom he wrote, probably arose from their cele- 
brating the Lord's Supper too much after the 
manner of the Passover, and abusing the customs 
of it, though in those customs themselves there 
was nothing that had a tendency to intemperance ; 
for the company were limited to a certain quan- 
tity of wine, which was by no means immoderate. 

It was also the third cup, called the cup of 
blessing, which Christ took, and, when he had 
pronounced the thanksgiving over it, as the pre- 
sident of the company, bid them take and divide 
it among themselves. After this he broke the un- 
leavened bread, for they had before eaten the 



THE WORSHIP OF THE SYNAGOGUE. 89 

lamb, The fourth cup was called the cup of the 
hallel, because it was used at the time of the 
singing. This Christ took, and appointed to be 
the cup of the new covenant of his blood a . 

Here then again were social prayer and praises., 
which Christ himself, as the president^ delivered, 
and in which the apostles joined by responses. 



CHAPTER III. 
The Social Woeshii* of Christians* 

SECTION L 

Passages in the New Testament in favour of 
Social Prayer, 

We come at length to the distinct examination 
of the particular passages that occur in the New 
Testament relative to social prayer. And though 
the statements that have been given, and the ob- 
servations that have been made, concerning the 
religious worship of the Jews have occupied so 
considerable a portion of these pages, they were 
evidently necessary on several accounts, and the 
whole have a bearing on this branch of our sub- 
ject. We have shown the high antiquity as well 
as the universality of social prayer in the time of 
Christ, and that it formed in all periods of their 

a Lightfoot's Temple Service, chap. xiii. p. 158, 



90 PASSAGES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 

history a prominent part of the public worship 
of the Hebrews, even when sacrifices were most 
in use, and the Mosaic rites were most scrupu- 
lously observed. This is important for various 
reasons, but chiefly because, in the first place, 
prayer was used in their public religious services 
under a divine sanction, as is proved, among* other 
considerations, by our Lord himself when he 
quotes the language of the prophet Isaiah ; " My 
house shall be called a house of prayer for all 
nations." His fervour too on this occasion, in so 
mild and forbearing a character, was extremely 
remarkable ; and the historian has not failed to 
mark its singularity by applying to it a quotation 
from the Psalms ; " As it is written, ' The zeal 
of thine house hath eaten me up.' " The object, 
moreover, of his zeal is as worthy of attention as 
its warmth and intrepidity. He was offended 
not because the sacrifices and Mosaic rites were 
i profaned, for these were temporary and speedily 
to be abolished, but because prayer, public so- 
cial prayer, was disregarded; for this was a duty 
which his God and Father had approved and re- 
quired, and which would form a part of pure and 
spiritual worship at all times, when Jewish rites 
and ceremonies are forgotten. And in the se- 
cond place, the preceding account of the Hebrew 
worship is important, for the reason before given, 
namely, that as Christ and his apostles were ac- 
customed to attend the Synagogue on the sab- 
bath, they regularly joined in the social worship 



IX FAVOUR OF SOCIAL PRAYER. 91 

practised there, and thus by their example gave 
an unequivocal recommendation of it to others. 

Will it then still be urged, that our Lord not 
only discouraged this practice, but absolutely com- 
manded his followers to abstain from the obser- 
vance of it ? Had he meant to do this, and had he 
disapproved of social prayer as highly as its op- 
ponents in the present day wish to have it be- 
lieved, what was his duty relative to this subject ? 
As this practice had been so long and so univer- 
sally established in the habits of his countrymen, 
instead of giving it encouragement by a regular 
attendance upon it in their synagogues, had he 
intended to set it aside, whilst his prohibition of 
it was the most clear and unequivocal, would he 
not have embraced every opportunity that oc- 
curred of warning his hearers of its pernicious 
tendency, and giving them exhortations to avoid 
it ? He was a reformer of religious abuses, and 
came for that express purpose. Would he not 
have laboured incessantly to exterminate this 
most fundamental abuse, as he must have consi- 
dered it, had he entertained the views on the 
subject which its opponents are ready to attribute 
to him ? And would he not have instructed his 
apostles to pursue the same course ? But what is 
the fact ? In the whole account of his public in- 
structions, there is but one passage that can with 
any plausibility be urged as bearing the appear- 
ance of a prohibition of social worship ; and that, 
if examined by the same rules of interpretation as 



92 PASSAGES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 

are adopted in other cases of a like kind, will 
be found to have no such meaning; whilst in 
the recorded discourses of his apostles, and in 
their epistles, there is not a single expression ad- 
verse to this practice. This solitary passage, 
which is of so much importance as to show that 
professing Christians have hitherto been univer- 
sally mistaken in their master's intentions, and 
ought to reject all public and social prayer for 
the future, occurs in Matt, vh 5 and 6. u And 
when thou prayest, be not as the hypocrites ; for 
they love to pray standing in the synagogues, and 
in the corners of the streets, that they may he seen 
of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their 
reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into 
thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray 
to thy Father who k in secret, and thy Father 
who seeth in secret, will reward thee openly." 
Take this passage as it standi separately, without 
any reference to the context, toother passages of 
the Scriptures, or to the kind of phraseology in 
general use at that time, and without regard to 
the conduct of Christ and his apostles, or his par- 
ticular design on this occasion, and it would be 
nothing extraordinary, if any person were led to 
suppose that it does contain something like a 
prohibition of all public social prayer. But in 
this way any absurdities whatever may find suffi- 
cient support in the Scriptures. It is, in fact, 
by the use of this method chiefly, that the popular 
errors of the present day, gross as they may be. 



IX FAVOUR OF SOCIAL PRAYER. 93 

are enabled to maintain their hold on the public 
mind. The advocates for them are in the habit 
of taking detached sentences of the Bible, that 
seem to uphold their favourite opinions, and judg- 
ing of them by the sound, despising all the. just 
rules of criticism,, overlooking the design of the 
writer, the context, the general strain of the 
Scriptures, and making no allowance for dif- 
ference in the customs and modes of expression 
that prevailed when they were written ; and in 
this manner it is no wonder if their hearers be 
misled : it would be strange, indeed, if they were 
not. But in forming a judgment of the passage 
before us, take into consideration all the cir- 
cumstances that have a tendency to throw light 
upon it, and it will be clearly perceived, that it 
neither is nor can be inimical to social worship. 
For in the first place it should be remembered^ 
that it is the only passage that appears to contain 
a prohibition of all public prayer, whilst there 
are many others decidedly in its favour : secondly, 
if our Lord intended here absolutely to forbid his 
followers to pray in the presence of men, then his 
own conduct was in opposition to his instructions ; 
for he not only attended the social worship of the 
Synagogue, but there are other instances upon 
record in wlvich he did pray in company : thirdly, 
his apostles, to whom he addressed himself on 
this occasion, did not so understand him; for 
there are various passages in the Acts and the 
Epistles which prove that they were in the habit 



9i PASSAGES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 

of social prayer : and lastly, if Christ here meant 
to prohibit all public social prayer, then in the 
context all almsgiving in the presence or with the 
knowledge of others, is as expressly forbidden by 
him ; for he exhorts immediately before, " Take 
heedj that ye do not your alms before men, to be 
seen of them. Let not thy left hand know what 
thy right hand doeth." The language in this case 
is not less positive and absolute than in the former. 
Now it is perfectly evident that this exhortation 
cannot be meant to be understood literally, and 
to its full extent ; for few deeds of charity can be 
done with absolute secrecy ; and a large propor- 
tion of them, if performed at all, must take place 
in public, or with the knowledge of many indivi- 
duals. Nor is it possible that so truly benevolent 
a teacher as Christ was, should ever intend to 
throw r a check upon a practice, which, however 
wrong the motives may be from which it may 
sometimes proceed, is fraught with so much be- 
nefit to mankind, and for which at all times the 
necessity is so general and so urgent. On me 
contrarv, he conferred the highest praise on the 
poor widow for casting the only two mites she 
possessed into the treasury, which was a public 
act ; and his apostles also speak with deserved 
commendation of the liberal contributions of in- 
dividuals for the relief of others, particularly 
Paul, in the case of the gentiles affording such 
assistance to the poor brethren at Jerusalem : 
none of which deeds of charity were done in se- 



IN FAVOUR OF SOCIAL PRAYER. 95 

cret. And to this it may not be improper to add, 
that his own benevolent acts, though he had no 
money to bestow, were usually performed in 
public. However, there can be no doubt that 
the sole object of Christ in this exhortation, was 
to discourage as much as possible all ostentation, 
and to enjoin nothing but that the design of cha- 
ritable deeds, according to his own words, should 
not be, that they might be seen of men. 

And certainly it is equally clear that he had 
the same object only in what he forbids respect- 
ing prayer. The same phraseology is used in 
both cases, and with the same intention. In this 
passage lie is evidently speaking of his disciples 
praying separately as individuals, and not in their 
social capacity. This is manifest from the nature 
of the case, as well as from all that has been now 
observed ; but it is further confirmed by his use 
of the singular number on this occasion, and af- 
terwards changing it for the plural. " But when 
thou prayest, be not as the hypocrites are : for 
they love to pray standing in the Synagogues % 
and in the corners of the streets, that they may 
beseenofmen. BuU/zoz/, when thou prayest, &c." 

a In the Temple, individuals were in the habit of going to 
pray separately at any time in public, after the social worship 
of that place was concluded ; and it is very possible, that the 
same practice might be observed in the Synagogues ; or, if 
not, many might attend the usual services of these places con- 
stantly for no purpose but to be seen of others, and on that ac- 
count, and that only, are they censured. He does not con- 
demn them because they prayed in the Synagogue, but because 
they prayed there to be seen of men. 



96 PASSAGES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 

Here then the pronoun in the singular number is 
repeated, and thus rendered emphatical, evident- 
ly pointing out his meaning to be, when ye pray 
separately as 'individuals, do this, not in public 
from motives of ostentation and parade, but retire 
to your closets, &c. When however he gives 
them a model for their devotions in the Lord's 
prayer, and, as Luke observes % at the request of 
his disciples, he makes use of the plural form of 
expression, as speaking of them collectively. " But 
when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the 
heathen do, &c. In this manner therefore pray 
ye : Our Father who art in heaven, &c." using 
the plural number throughout. This form, in- 
deed, is evidently intended to be used in society, 
not less than in private. It is admirably adapted 
to the use of all men, at all times, and in all cir- 
cumstances : it is moreover composed of sentences 
found in the Hebrew liturgies of that time b , 
which were all used as social prayers. 

To the passage under consideration, moreover, 
the observation has been applied , That among 
the Jews nothing was more common than the use 
of a phrase directly negative, and without restric- 
tion, to express a limited and comparative idea. 
The following are instances of this kind : " If 

a Chap. xi. 2. 

b With the exception of the expression, <e as we forgive 
them that trespass against us," which is the only part of it 
upon which Christ makes any comment, as if there were no- 
thing else in it that was new and uncommon. 

c See Simpson's Reply to Wakefield. 



IN FAVOUR OF SOCIAL PRAYER. 97 

any man come to me, and hate not his father and 
mother, and wife and children, and brethren and 
sisters, and even his own life also, he cannot he 
my disciple." No one understands this as mean- 
ing any thing* more than to assert the great prin- 
ciple, that to prefer any earthly consideration to 
our duty, is inconsistent with the Christian cha- 
racter. — Again ; " Jesus cried and said, c He that 
believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him 
that sent me.' " The meaning of which is better 
expressed by Mr. Wakefield's translation, " He 
that believeth on me, believeth not so much on 
me as on him that sent me." And in the Acts, 
Peter says, " Ananias, thou hast not lied unto 
men, but unto God;" that is, " Your offence is 
greater against God than against men." If pas- 
sages like these are to be understood literally, 
without regard to the nature of the particular 
case, the connexion in which they stand, as well 
as the true spirit of religion, and the principles 
of common sense, what are the contradictions and 
absurdities, as observed before, that will not find 
vouchers enough in the Scriptures? Similar la- 
titude of interpretation is not only allowable, but 
necessary, in the exhortation of Christ, " When 
thou prayest be not as the hypocrites, &c." But 
when all the circumstances which have been stat- 
ed are taken into consideration, it seems impos- 
sible to avoid the conclusion, that nothing more 
is intended in this passage (as in that on the sub- 
ject of almsgiving, the phraseology of which is pre- 



98 PASSAGES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 

cisely similar) than a solemn caution against os- 
tentation, or praying in order to be seen ofmen^ 
without the slightest intention of giving discou- 
ragement to social prayer, originating in right mo- 
tives and accompanied by humility. It is plainly 
directed, and directed only, against individual 
prayer in places of public resort. 

There is however another passage which has 
been urged as inimical to social worship, though 
it cannot indeed be pretended that it contains 
any prohibition of it whatever. John iv. 21, &c. 
" And Jesus said to the woman of Samaria, c Wo- 
man, believe me, the hour cometh when ye shall 
worship the Father neither in this mountain 
nor at Jerusalem. Ye worship what ye know 
not: we worship what we know; for salvation 
is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now 
is, when the true worshipers shall worship the 
Father in spirit and in truth : for indeed the Fa- 
ther seeketh such worshipers of him. God is a 
spirit: and they that worship him must worship 
him in spirit and in truth.'" Before, however, 
it can be assumed that disapprobation of all pub- 
lic and social worship is implied in these observa- 
tions, it is necessary to prove that the spiritual 
and true worship required by Christianity is ab- 
solutely inconsistent with that which is offered in 
conjunction with others ; which we are so far from 
admitting, that we are convinced by experience 
and observation no means have a better tendency 
to promote the genuine spirit of devotion than 



IN FAVOUR OF SOCIAL PRAYER. 99 

frequently meeting together for the purpose of 
giving expression to sentiments and feelings of 
this kind. But if these observations of our Lord 
are required to be understood in the full extent 
of their literal signification, then they must be 
considered as giving discouragement not only to 
all oral prayer, however private, but to all ex- 
pression of religious homage in any way what- 
ever, and to limit the true worship of God to the 
operations of the mind. Such a construction no 
one surely will undertake to reconcile with the 
example of Christ and his apostles, with the con- 
duct of the first Christians, or with a great part 
of the New Testament. However, the true de- 
sign of this passage can scarcely be mistaken. — 
Christ is here evidently speaking of public wor- 
ship only; all that he says is applicable to it, and 
plainly implies that God, who is a spirit, maybe 
worshiped in spirit and in truth in company with 
others as well as in retirement. He clearly meant 
to teach this mistaken woman, that the worship 
of the Jewish and Samaritan Temple should be 
abolished, and one that is sincere, consistent with 
truth, and perfectly independent of unnecessary 
ceremony and parade, should be substituted in its 
room ; — a worship by no means restricted to na- 
tional institutions or controverted systems, unre- 
strained by the narrow limits of prejudice and 
party, and such as all mankind may cheerfully 
join in, since it is that only which proceeds from 
a pure and upright heart, in whatever way it may 
F 2 



1(30 PASSAGES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 

be offered. And accordingly this desirable con- 
summation was effected by the introduction of 
Christianity into the world. The Mosaic ritual, 
whether in the Jewish or Samaritan form, with 
all its expensive, troublesome ceremonies, and 
invidious restrictions, was abolished by it alto- 
gether, and every man who feareth God and 
worketh righteousness was assured that nothing 
is requisite to render his religious homage, whe- 
ther public or private, acceptable to God, but 
purity of heart and rectitude of conduct. The 
devotional services of the Synagogue, however, 
formed no part of this ritual, and to them accord- 
ingly Christ makes no allusion in the passage un- 
der consideration ; and had he censured the social 
worship practised there, his conduct would have 
been at variance with his teaching. 

But there is one observation in this passage, 
which ought not to be passed over without atten- 
tion. " Ye Samaritans," says Christ, " worship 
what ye know not: we (Jews) worship what we 
know; for salvation is of the Jews." Both par- 
ties, however, worshiped the same God, the sole 
Creator, the one God and the Father of Jesus the 
Christ, and of all mankind. " After the time/ 
says Prideaux a , " that Manasseh brought the law 

* Connexion, part i book vi. page 425. The three points 
in which they differed from the Jews were ; 1st, They received 
no more of the Scriptures than the Pentateuch ; 2dly, They 
rejected all traditions; and 3dly, They said the true Temple 
was theirs on mount Gerizim, in opposition to that at Jerusa- 
lem. 



IN FAVOUR OF SOCIAL PRAYER. 1Q1 

of Moses among them, and instructed them in it, 
the Samaritans became as zealous worshipers of 
the true God, and as great abhorrers of all man- 
ner of idolatry, as the most rigorous of the Jews 
themselves, and so continue even to this day." 
These words therefore refer to the mode of wor- 
ship, or to circumstances connected with it, rather 
than to the object of it; and they clearly imply 
approbation of the public and social nature of 
that worship, as it was practised among the Jews. 
u Ye Samaritans worship what ye know not;" 
that is, though you render religious homage to 
the same living and true God as we do, yet your 
knowledge of him is not sufficient to prevent your 
mistaking his will respecting the nature of the wor- 
ship by which he is to be addressed. We Jews, 
on the contrary, says Christ, worship the true God 
according to his own institutions : but these being 
intended for one people only, are speedily to be 
abolished, and a purer mode of public worship (for 
it is of public worship that he is here speaking) is 
to be introduced into its place, the only requisites 
to the acceptableness of which are integrity and 
truth. 

Such then are the supposed prohibition and 
disapproval of social worship by our Lord :- — they 
amount to nothing. In the time of Christ the 
practice of social prayer was in danger only from 
superstition and formality a ; for this reason there 

a Besides public prayers twice every day in the Temple at the 
times of the morning and evening sacrifice, they had religious 



102 PASSAGES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 

was more need of cautions against its abuse than 
exhortations to the observance of it; of checking- 
its exuberance, than of strengthening its growth ; 
of preventing its substitution for other duties more 
immediately useful, than of showing its reason- 
ableness and enforcing its obligations. Hence his 
admonitions on the subject have this tendency, 
whilst his example is decisive in its favour. Nor 
will there be any difficulty in showing further from 
the passages in the New Testament, that remain 
for examination, that not only Christ, but his 
apostles and the first Christians generally, highly 
approved of this practice, and gave it the strong- 
est recommendation at least by their example. 

It is necessary, however, to consider previously 
the very peculiar and extraordinary circumstances 
in which they were placed, entirely different as 
they were from the state of Christian societies 
now. During the ministry of Christ his followers 
were not yet collected into churches. The num- 
ber of real converts to his religion, who under- 
stood the nature of his mission, who cordially em- 
braced and were practically influenced by his doc- 
trines, was few indeed; nor was there any thing 
like a regular society among them, if we except 
the twelve apostles. Hence among themselves 

services in their synagogues three days a week, besides their 
holidays, whether fasts or festivals ; and thrice every one of 
those days, morning, afternoon, and evening ; namely, Mon- 
day, Thursday, and Saturday; the latter, being their Sabbath, 
was set apart for religious exercises by divine appointments ; 
the two former by the elders. Prideaux's Conn, part i. book ii. 
page 381. 



IN FAVOUR OF SOCIAL PRAYER. 103 

there was no opportunity of uniting constantly in 
the duties of social worship. The Temple and 
the Synagogue were the only places where they 
could assemble, together with others, for this 
purpose, and these we find they did not neglect. 
The business of Christ also was to make converts 
to truth and righteousness ; to convince, to cor- 
rect, and to reclaim. Hence his time was occu- 
pied in working miracles to prove the divinity of 
his mission, and in teaching on all occasions, in 
the streets, in the Temple, in the synagogues, and 
in private companies, wherever he had access. 
In any of these circumstances, to introduce the 
practice of social prayer by a new method was 
impracticable, and the attempt would have been 
highly improper. During the public ministry of 
Jesus, opportunities suitable for social prayer ia 
a way different from that which then prevailed 
among the Jews would very seldom occur. Not- 
withstanding this, however, instances are not 
wanting in his conduct, besides his regular at- 
tendance on the stated services of the Synagogue, 
which afford unequivocal proof that this practice 
had his entire approbation, when free from hypo- 
critical parade, and accompanied by consistent 
conduct. 

His admirable prayer, near the close of his mi- 
nistry and. his life, recorded in the 17th chapter 
of John's gospel, is certainly of this kind. It is 
of considerable length, and private prayer it was 
not certainly, for it was delivered in the pre- 



104 PASSAGES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 

sence of his disciples. Nor does it relate to him- 
self alone: he prayed not only with them but for 
them. And why was this, if he approved only of 
private devotion, and if there were no propriety 
in their concurring with him in this act of religi- 
ous worship ? When a person prays aloud in com- 
pany with others, and especially when he prays 
for them, they are always considered as joining 
mentally with him, if there be nothing in the 
prayer delivered by him inconsistent with their 
sentiments and feelings, as in this instance it is 
impossible there should be. This then was prayer 
in society at least, and by example a recommen- 
dation of it to others. A peculiar cast, it is true, 
is given to this prayer, and it is delivered in the 
singular number. But these circumstances are 
fully accounted for by the singularity of our Lord's 
situation, and the vast superiority which he derived 
from his character and office, not only to all other 
men, but to the apostles themselves, He was the 
expected Messiah, the saviour of the world ; and 
though he could neither do nor teach any thing 
of himself, as he repeatedly says, he was endowed 
by God with greater miraculous powers than had 
ever been bestowed on any human being besides, 
for to him was given the Spirit of God without 
measure. Hence it is said ; " All ye are brethren ; 
one is your Master, even Christ." They are the 
members, he is the head. And the prayer which 
he delivered on this occasion was, if we may so 
speak, an official prayer; it was within the nature 



IN FAVOUR OF SOCIAL PRAYER. 105 

of his office and perfectly consistent with it. This 
great superiority and extraordinary nature, then, 
of the character and office of Christ serve to ac- 
count fully for the difference of style and manner 
of this devout address to God ; but at the same 
time they are very far from destroying its autho- 
rity as an example to us of prayer in society: if 
they did, then his diligence and fidelity in teach- 
ing ; his indefatigable perseverance in conferring 
benefits on mankind ; his dignified resignation and 
greatness of mind, in sustaining without a murmur 
the agonies of crucifixion, afford no example to us, 
because he was divinely inspired to instruct; be- 
cause he was furnished by God with miraculous 
powers to do good ; and because his death was the 
seal of the New Covenant in his blood, and there- 
fore all these belonged in a peculiar manner to the 
high office he sustained, and the heavenly mission 
he came to fulfill. Prayer in society, not less than 
instructing the ignorant, affording succour to the 
needy, and enduring affliction with patience, is a 
duty common to all mankind, and may therefore 
receive additional recommendation from the ex- 
ample of Christ, though this as well as other du- 
ties were practised by him in circumstances the 
most extraordinary, and in an official capacity to 
which we have no pretensions. The style of the 
prayer we cannot imitate, for our circumstances 
are altogether different and our station in the 
Christian community inferior; but the example, 
as an instance of prayer in society, remains in full 

f 5 



106 PASSAGES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 

force, because this is a duty which we have it in 
our power to practise, if we choose. 

Two or three other instances occur, which, 
however trifling they may seem to some persons, 
may serve to corroborate the proof, if indeed this 
were necessary, that Christ approved and was in 
the constant habit of social worship. The two 
following are not unworthy of notice : for, how- 
ever short the prayer, it was still social. When 
he wrought the miracle of feeding with five loaves 
and two fishes the multitude that attended him, 
before he distributed the food, " he looked up 
to heaven, and blessed God, and gave thanks a ;" 
an act in which, according to universal custom, 
those who were present as a matter of course were 
understood to join : and in a similar instance b of 
the seven loaves and a few small fishes, he again 
led the thanksgivings of the people in the same 
manner. That such was his constant practice, 
is evident from a third instance c , in conjunction 
with these, when after his resurrection, at Em* 
maus, with his two disciples, "he took bread, 
and blessed God," &c. An act of a similar kind 
occurred also at the Paschal supper, an account 
of which has been already given, and which he 
celebrated for the last time with his apostles, of 
course, in the Jewish manner, and with their ap- 
pointed forms of devotion, including the psalms 
which were recited on this occasion, all of which 
services were social in the strictest sense. 

a Matth. xiv. 19. b Ibid. xv. 36. c Luke xxiv. 30. 



IN FAVOUR OF SOCIAL PRAYER. 107 

It may be worth while to mention also, that a 
short prayer or thanksgiving of Christ's, in the 
presence of the multitude, is recorded in Matth. 
xi. 25. " At that time Jesus spake, and said ' I 
thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, 
that, having hidden these things from the wise 
and prudent, thou hast revealed them to babes. 
Even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy 

^ght." 

And to this it may be added that the account 
which St. Luke a gives, of the occasion on which 
the Lord's prayer was given as a model to his 
disciples, evidently furnishes another instance in 
which he prayed in company with others. " And 
it came to pass that as he was praying in a cer- 
tain place, when he had ceased, one of his disci- 
ples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as 
John also taught his disciples. And he said unto 
them, When ye pray, say, Our Father," &c. 
The probability is, that Christ had been praying 
on this occasion in the presence of his disciples ; 
for, had he prayed in secret, how could they have 
known what he had been doing? He must either 
have told them, or they must have gained infor- 
mation of it by divine revelation ; neither of which 
suppositions is at all probable, for the former 
would have implied ostentation in Jesus; and the 
latter; that a God of all wisdom gave supernatural 
information in a case of little importance and from 
which no material benefit could result. 
a Chap. xi. 2 k 



108 PASSAGES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 

However, in Matth. xviii. 19, 20, direct en- 
couragement is clearly given to social prayer by 
a promise of Christ to his disciples relative to 
this duty. " I say unto you, that if two or three 
of you agree on earth concerning any thing which 
they shall ask in my name, it shall be done for 
them of my Father who is in heaven. For where 
two or three are gathered together in my name, 
there am I in the midst of them." From the 
whole of this passage taken together, it is mani- 
fest that one of the purposes for which Christ ex- 
pected his disciples to gather together in his name, 
was social prayer, and by the promise which he 
made on this occasion he meant to give this prac- 
tice all possible encouragement. This, 1 say, is 
unquestionable ; for, should it be observed that in 
the latter of these verses no mention is made of this 
duty, it is obviqus to reply. In the first there is, 
and the two verses are inseparable. In the for- 
mer, a conditional promise is given of an answer 
to social prayer ; and in the latter, the reason for 
expecting the fulfilment of it. Two or three in- 
dividuals, it is true, might agree to pray for any 
thing separately, and in private ; but the latter 
of these verses proves that Christ is here speak- 
ing of their doing this in society, when they were 
gathered together in his name, and therefore for 
the express purpose of social prayer. And as to 
the smallness of the number here mentioned, this 
is of no consequence whatever. The least num- 
ber is mentioned for no reason but because they 



IN FAVOUR OF SOCIAL PRAYER. 109 

would have most need of encouragement. But 
the ground of faith and hope mentioned in the 
latter verse applies with equal force to a large 
number as to a small one, or rather with greater; 
for if the united prayers of two or three indivi- 
duals had the promise of a favourable issue, those 
of many, equally unanimous, according to the 
purport of the passage, would have a clearer title 
to the fulfilment of the promise. It will be re- 
plied, of course, that this promise, like the grant 
of authority in the preceding verse, is to be un- 
derstood as limited to the apostolic age, if not to 
the apostles themselves, and that therefore Chris- 
tians in the present day have no concern with any 
thing which the passage contains. But neither is 
this objection of the slightest weight; for the ga- 
thering together of the followers of Christ in his 
name, among other purposes for social prayer, 
being a general duty common to all Christians in 
all ages, he evidently speaks of it as such, since 
his language clearly implies that to meet for social 
prayer would be the future practice of his followers 
generally. And though the ground of encourage- 
ment given here does apply exclusively to the pe- 
riod of his personal presence and the continuance 
of miracles among them, still it necessarily indi- 
cates approbation of meetings for social prayer in 
general, and is given expressly for the purpose of 
stimulating his followers to perseverance in this 
custom. If it were right in the apostles, it can- 
not be wrong in us ; because it is a duty which has 



110 PASSAGES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 

no connexion with miracles, or with any extraor- 
dinary circumstances whatever. If Christ encou- 
raged this practice among them, what imaginable 
reason can be given why it should meet with his 
disapprobation, when found among others? Cer- 
tainly the passage before us implies the contrary. 
But in what manner did the apostles themselves 
understand the design of their master relative to 
this subject? In this case they at least were com- 
petent judges ; and that their conduct is decisive 
in favour of our argument, the proofs we have to 
adduce from the New Testament, leave no room 
for doubt. A similar remark, however, to that 
which has been made, relative to the extraordi- 
nary nature of the circumstances and character 
of our Lord, applies to them as well as to him. 
As his successors in the great work of propagat- 
ing pure and undefiled religion in the world, they 
were endued with the like miraculous powers. — 
" As thou, O Father, hast sent me into the world," 
says he, " so send I them into the world ;" and to 
the apostles themselves, " The same works that 
I do shall ye do also; and greater works than 
these shall ye do." Their business was to in- 
crease the extension of Christianity in every di- 
rection ; to instruct, to convince, and to persuade : 
and hence we should expect to read more of their 
public teaching, and of their labours and suffer- 
ings in this great work, than of any thing else. 
Such we find to be the case. Their circumstances 
were always extremely unsettled and precarious; 



IX FAVOUR OF SOCIAL PRAYER. Ill 

and in the midst of persecution, affliction and 
distress from every quarter, considerable time 
would elapse before Christian churches, or orga- 
nized societies, could be generally formed for re- 
ligious worship and instruction. In such circum- 
stances opportunities for social prayer could never 
be regular, and seldom without danger of inter- 
ruption. At first they appear to have frequented 
the Temple and the Synagogue for this purpose. 
But after the communication of the miraculous 
powers on the day of Pentecost, in spite of all op- 
position and discouragement, their numbers began 
rapidly to increase; and from the very beginning 
of their labours, we find decisive proofs, notwith- 
standing all the disadvantages of their circum- 
stances, that meetings for religious worship, or 
social prayer, were among the first things that 
occurred. These instances are at least as nume- 
rous as could be expected^ and are amply sufficient 
to show that they were in the habit of performing 
this duty with great constancy and fervour. 

When they had been spectators of the ascension 
of their venerated Master, they returned without 
delay to Jerusalem, and " were continually in the 
Temple praising and blessing GodV This was 
at least public devotion, and no doubt social also, 
for such was the stated worship of this " house of 
prayer," and they had no other, as yet, in which 
to assemble for the purpose. 

In the continuation of this history by the same 
a Luke xxiv. 52, 53. 



112 PASSAGES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 

writer in the Acts a , we are informed also, that 
upon the return of the disciples to Jerusalem from 
mount Olivet, on this occasion " they went into an 
upper room, where abode Peter and James, and 
John, and Andrew and Philip, and Thomas, Bar- 
tholomew and Matthew, James the son of Al- 
pheus, Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of 
James. These all continued with one accord in 
prayer and supplication, with certain women also, 
and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brethren." 
The word here translated with one accord signi- 
fies unitedly, in conjunction, as is evident from all 
the other passages in which it occurs in the New 
Testament, which are eleven b . The disciples, 
therefore, already a considerable number, conti- 
nued with one accord {unitedly, in conjunction) \\\ 
prayer and supplication. Will any one say that 
this was not social prayer? 

We are informed immediately after, that one 
of the next things that occurred, was another act 
of social worship . When onehundredand twenty 
disciples were met together for the purpose of fill- 
ino* up the vacancy occasioned by the apostasy of 
Judas, they joined in solemn prayer to God ; " and 
having prayed, they said," in continuation of their 
religious services, " Thou, Lord, who knowest 
the hearts of all men, show which of these two 

»CM- 12—14. 

b Acts ii. 1, 46. iv. 24. v. 12. vii. 3J. viii. 6. xii. 20. xv. 25. 
xviii. 12. xix. 29. Rom xv. 6. See Pope's Answer to Wake- 
field. 

€ Acts i. 24. 



IN FAVOUR OF SOCIAL PRAYER. 113 

thou hast chosen," &c. No one, surely, will deny 
that this was an act of social worship. The princi- 
pal prayer is omitted, and that part only is given 
which related immediately to the object of their 
meeting; and the probability is, that it was deli- 
vered by one individual (Peter, no doubt, who had 
just addressed the company) in the name of the 
rest, who concurred with him ; for when it is ob- 
served in the plural number, " they prayed," and 
" they said," it cannot be supposed that each of 
them delivered his own prayer separately, for in 
this case no one will believe they would all have 
uttered the same words a . 

On the day of Pentecost about three thousand 
persons — convinced by what they saw, and by the 
plain facts which they knew to be true, as stated 
by Peter — on the spot where they had taken place, 
and immediately after, were added to the number 
of the disciples. " These all steadfastly continued 
in the doctrine of the apostles, and in fellowship, 
and in the breaking of bread, and in prayers." — 
The other acts mentioned here were social acts; 
and why not prayers also, like the rest? How, 
moreover, could it be known that they all conti- 

a It. may be proper to observe, that both these instances of 
social prayer took place before the descent of the holy spirit, 
that is, before the miraculous powers were communicated to 
the apostles ; so that there is no pretence for applying to these 
instances the observation that has been made respecting other 
cases of social prayer occurring in the New Testament, namely, 
that the prayers of the first Christians were " among the mi- 
raculous gifts," and on that account afford no example to us, 

1 Acts ii. 42. 



114 PASSAGES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 

nued steadfast in prayer, if these prayers were en- 
tirely private ? Will any one pay the slightest 
attention to the ridiculous supposition, that three 
thousand persons were guilty of the absurd osten- 
tation of telling each other that they continued 
steadfast in prayers? 

Soon after this a Peter and John, having been 
called before the heads of the Jewish nation, 
when they delivered the noble reply to their com- 
mand not to preach in the name of Jesus, " Whe- 
ther it be right before God to hearken unto you 
more than unto GodL, judge ye. For we cannot 
but speak the things which we have seen and 
heard;" returning to their own company b , and 
reporting all which the chief-priests and elders 
had said unto them, the whole assembly lift up 
their voice to God with one accord (unitedly, in 
conjunction). The prayer follows, which, being 
of considerable length, was delivered, no doubt, 
by one individual, the rest joining with them, for 
it can scarcely be supposed again, they would all 
have repeated the same form of words separately 
and extemporaneously, especially when the pray- 
er was so long and of so singular a description. 

a Acts iv. 23. 

b The increase of the disciples in so short a time after the 
ascension was very rapid ; for we are told in the preceding 
chapter, that when Peter had been preaching a second time to 
the people, though the priests, &c. had cast him and John into 
prison, " many of those that had heard the discourse of Peter 
believed : and the number of the men was about five thou- 
sand." 



IN FAVOUR OF SOCIAL PRAYER. 115 

" O sovereign Lord, thou art God, who madest 
heaven, and earth, -and the sea, and all that is in 
them : who saidst also by the mouth of thy ser- 
vant David, ' Why did the Gentiles rage, and the 
people imagine vain things ? Why did kings of 
the earth stand up, and why were the rulers ga- 
thered together against the Lord, and against 
his anointed ? ' For in truth, against thy holy 
servant a Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both 
Herod and Pontius Pilate, and the gentiles, and 
the people of Israel, were gathered together in 
this city, to do whatsoever thy hand and thy 
counsel determined before to be done. And 
now, Lord, behold their threatenings : and grant 
unto thy servants, that with all freedom they 
may speak thy word ; by stretching forth thy 
hands to heal; and by the doing of signs and 
wonders, through the name of thy holy servant 
Jesus." Here then is another unquestionable 
instance of social prayer ; nor is there any pre- 
tence for affirming that this was an inspired 
prayer, or " among the supernatural gifts," for 
at the conclusion of it we are informed that, 
u when they had prayed, the place was shaken 
where they were assembled together ; and they 
were filled with the holy spirit, and spake the 
word of God with freedom." So that they were 
supernaturally assisted to teach, but not to pray. 

a In this and the 30th verse the Greek word is the same as 
that which the translators of the common version have pro- 
perly rendered servant in the 25th. 



116 PASSAGES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 

When the number of the converts was greatly 
multiplied in Jerusalem % so that the apostles 
found the daily distribution of alms interfered 
with their other duties, they called a general as- 
sembly of the disciples and directed them to choose 
seven deacons to superintend this business ; and 
the disciples having chosen them, " they set them 
before the apostles ; who, when they had pray- 
ed, put their hands on them." This of course 
was social prayer. And the reason, moreover, 
which the apostles gave for the appointment of 
these officers for such a purpose was, that they 
themselves might continue "steadfast in prayer, 
and in the ministry of the word ;" so that prayer 
is here connected with preaching, the former 
consequently being public as well as the latter, 
and both of them constituting the chief employ- 
ment of the apostles. 

We are afterwards informed b , that whilst 
Peter was kept in prison, " earnest prayer was 
made by the church to God for him." The na- 
tural and obvious sense of these words is, that 
the united prayers of these Christians on this 
occasion were offered up to God in behalf of Pe- 
ter, when they were assembled together ; and 
this signification of the passage is further con- 
firmed by what is said in the 12th verse ; u And 
when they had considered the matter" of Peter's 
enlargement, " he came to the house of Mary, 

a Acts, vi. 1 — 7* b Acts xii. 5. 



IN FAVOUR OF SOCIAL PRAYER. 117 

the mother of John, surnamed Mark ; where 

many icere gathered together ', and zcere praying." 
What could this be, if it were not social prayer? 
Certainly it was not closet devotion ; and it 
manifestly shows that the former instance was 
social too. 

In the next a chapter we are informed, that at 
the time when Barnabas and Saul were sepa- 
rated for the ministry, u When they," that is, 
the other prophets and teachers in the church at 
Antioch, "had fasted and prayed, and put their 
hands on them, they sent them away." The put- 
ting on of hands and praying, on this occasion, 
were evidently, both of them, public and social 
acts. 

And when Paul and Barnabas, on a subse- 
quent occasion b , had appointed elders over the 
different churches which they had visited, " and 
had prayed and fasted, they commended them to 
the Lord, on whom they had believed." The 
evident probability is, that this also is an instance 
of a similar nature. 

But one of the most remarkable instances of 
social prayer, as practised among Christians now, 
is that which took place at the close of the dis- 
course delivered by Paul to the inhabitants of 
Miletus, when, it is said, he kneeled down and 
prayed with them all. No preposition c , it has 
been observed, could have been selected, that 

a Acts xiii. 3. b Ibid. xx. 36. c cuts* 



118 PASSAGES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 

would have conveyed the idea of union more 
clearly than that which is made use of here : and 
by these expressions every unbiassed person would 
immediately understand, that a prayer was de- 
livered by Paul, in which the assembly silent- 
ly joined. The meaning of such language is de- 
termined by general consent, which is here un- 
equivocal a . 

A similar act was also performed by the same 
apostle and his companion Luke, in conjunction 
with the Christians of Tyre b . " When we were 
departing/' says the writer, "they all conduct- 
ed us on our way, with their wives and children, 
till we were out of the city : and we kneeled 
down and prayed;" which was of course social 
prayer. 

To these instances may be added the account 
which is given of what took place at Phiiippi c . 
"On the sabbath day," says the historian, " we," 
that is, Paul and his companion Luke, "went 
out of the city by a river, where prayer was wont 
to be made : and we sat down and spake to the 
women who resorted thither :" and from the 16th 
verse it is generally inferred that they prayed 
with them. It is probable, however, from the 
form of expression in this passage d , that here was 
a proseuche^ in which Paul both prayed with those 

a Pope's Answer to Wakefield. 

b Acts xxi. 5. c Ibid. xvi. 12. 

d It is contended that this passage ought to be rendered, 
" We went out of the city by a river, where according to re- 



IN FAVOUR OF SOCIAL PRAYER. 119 

who were present, and taught them in the man- 
ner in use in the Synagogue a . 

However, should this instance be considered 
as equivocal, it it is perfectly unnecessary. The 
others already adduced, are clear and satisfac- 
tory ; and, if we consider the conciseness of the 
history in which they occur, and the extremely 
unsettled state of Christians at that time, they 
will certainly appear to be as numerous as cir- 
cumstances w r ould permit. It was immediately 
after the ascension of Christ that they began, or 
rather continued, the practice of social prayer, 
and nothing can be more evident than that they 
were afterwards constantly in the habit of using 
all occasions proper for this purpose as they oc- 
curred. This will further appear from the pas. 
sages in the epistles that refer to the subject. 

To the Corinthians b the apostle gives direc- 
tions on the subject, which prove indisputably 
that prayer was not confined to the closet, but 
that Christians were then in the habit of using it 
in their assemblies for religious purposes : the 
man whilst praying was to have his head unco- 

ceived custom, or, as was allowed bylaw (hoyJ&ro), . there 
was a proseuche. See Jennings's Jewish Antiquities, vol. ii. 
book ii. ch. ii. p. 69. 

a When the law was read, out of respect the reader stood ; 
but when any person taught the people in the Synagogue, he 
sat, as Paul did on this occasion. Hence Prideaux and others 
think the proseuche here was used for religious purposes simi- 
lar to those which were practised in these places of worship, 
See Conn, part i. book vi. page 388, the note. 

b 1 Cor. xi. 4. 



120 PASSAGES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 

vered, the woman to wear the usual covering on 
the head. 

There is one passage, however, which can 
leave no doubt on the mind of any person who 
has not previously received the strongest bias on 
the subject, that social prayer in the manner now 
in use, that is, of one individual delivering the 
prayer in the name of all, and the congregation 
signifying their participation and concurrence by 
the response, Amen, was the habitual practice of 
Christians in general in the apostolic age a . " Let 
him that speaketh in an unknown language b , 
pray that he may interpret. For if I pray in an 
unknown language, my spirit prayeth, but my 
meaning is unprofitable. What is it then? I 
will pray with the spirit," that is, with my spirit, 
as in the preceding verse, understanding myself, 
" and with the understanding also," or with 
meaning, so as to be understood by others. " I 
will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the 
understanding also. Otherwise when thou shalt 
bless God with the spirit," with thy mind, under- 
standing thyself, but not understood by others c ? 

* 1 Cor. xiv. 13, &c. 

h This does not necessarily refer to the gift of speaking dif- 
ferent languages, given on the day of Pentecost, and which 
was so essential to the apostles in preaching to different na- 
tions : a foreigner might speak in a language unknown to the 
rest of the assembly, and it seems strange, if an individual pos- 
sessed the miraculous power of speaking an unknown lan- 
guage, that he should not at the same time be enabled to in- 
terpret that language. 

c See Locke on the passage. This sagacious and- skilful 



IN FAVOUR OF SOCIAL PRAYER. 1^1 

14 how shall he that filleth the place of the un- 
learned say Amen. at thy giving of thanks, since 
he knoweth not what thou sayest ? For thou in- 
deed givest thanks well; but the other is not 
edified V Were there no other text on the sub- 
ject in the New Testament, this would be suffi- 
cient. 

It is not easy to imagine a more puerile at- 
tempt to evade the proof afforded by this pas- 
sage, that social prayer was the common practice 
of Christians in their assemblies at this time 5 than 
that which has been made by some observations 
on the use of the word amen, as if it were not in- 
tended to express a participation in the prayer 
at the conclusion of which it was uttered. Every 
one knows that amen is a Hebrew word, signi- 
fying truth, and that it is properly translated re- 
riljy at the beginning of many of our Lord's so^ 



commentator, however, understands by my spirit in the 14th 
verse, the mind of the worshiper ; but by spirit in the next 
verse supernatural assistance to pray in an unknown language. 
But what sufficient reason can there be for changing the 
meaning of the same word so suddenly in the same passage > 
The repetition of the pronoun my was not necessary. The 
signification seems to be the same here as in our Lord's ex- 
pression addressed to the woman of Samaria, of worshiping 
God in spirit and in truth, that is, with the mind and sincerely. 
a Vitringa quotes this text, among others, in order to show 
that the worship of the Synagogue and of Christian assemblies 
was essentially the same, both including prayers, thanksgiv- 
ings, and benedictions, with the responses of the people, by 
saying Amen. The chief difference appears to have been, 
that the Christians did not use forms of prayer, or read th( 
law. Vitringa de Syn. Vet. lib. iii. pars ii. cap. xix. p. 1100. 



122 PASSAGES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 

lemn affirmations recorded in the gospels. But 
every one knows also that, by common consent, 
when it is used by those who hear, at the end of 
a prayer delivered in their presence, this use of 
it implies, not their approbation only, but their 
concurrence, their participation in what the 
speaker has uttered. That this was the ancient 
as well as modern sense in which it was so used, 
is unquestionable. The common response, says 
Vitringa, in the Jewish Synagogue, was amen ; 
by which the whole congregation replied to the 
minister's prayers and benedictions ; and there- 
by signified their concurrence with him (" suura 
eo consensum testatus cum precante"). He has 
a distinct section on this use of the word, in 
which he enumerates the several circumstances 
insisted upon by the Talmudic writers as requi- 
site to render it acceptable to God, among which 
one at least was proper, namely, that it should 
be accompanied by a firm persuasion that God 
heareth prayer a . 

St. Paul's direction to Timothy (1 Tim. ii. 
1 — 8) has also been quoted as affording another 
instance in evidence that social prayer was the 
common practice of Christians when that epistle 
was written. "I exhort therefore, first of all, 
that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and 
giving of thanks be made for all men ; for kings, 
and for all that are in high station ; that we may 
lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness 
•Vitringa, page 1092. 



IN FAVOUR OF SOCIAL PRAYER. 123 

and gravity. For this is good and acceptable in 
the sight of God our saviour. — I will therefore 
that men pray in every place, lifting up holy 
hands, without anger and disputing." Not only 
because Paul is here giving directions to Timo- 
thy how to conduct himself in reference to Chris- 
tian churches, but from the nature of these ex- 
hortations, and the whole form of the expressions, 
these supplications, prayers, intercessions, and 
thanksgivings for all men, &c. we have no doubt 
were intended to be made in their assemblies for 
religious purposes. They were altogether social 
in their nature, and most suitable for public wor- 
ship & . 

There is also a passage in the epistle to the 
Romans, (xv. 5 and 6,) which clearly alludes to 
social prayer as at that time practised among 
Christians. "Now the God of patience and 
comfort grant you to be of the same mind among 
yourselves, according to the will of Jesus Christ: 

a That such was the light in which Christians immediately 
succeeding the age of the apostles considered these exhorta- 
tions, is evident from a passage in Tertullian, where he is 
giving an account of their social worship. His words are; 
" Goimus in coetum et aggregationem ut ad Deum, quasi maim 
facta, precationibus ambiamus orantes. Haec vis Deo grata 
est. Oramus etiam pro imperatoribas, pro ministris eorum 9 
ac potestatibus, pro statu seculi, pro rerum quiete, pro mor& 
finis." If there be not in this last sentence a direct allusion 
to the words of St. Paul to Timothy, it at least describes a 
practice founded upon them in their public assemblies, con- 
vened expressly for social prayer with great fervour of devo- 
tion, which he speaks of as highly acceptable to God. Sec 
his Apol., cap. xxxix. 

G 2 



124 PASSAGES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 

that with one consent, and with one month, ye may 
glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus 
Christ." The word which is here translated with 
oneconsent*, is the same which occurs in Acts i. 14, 
signifying in conjunction, and referring in all the 
places in which it occurs in the New Testament 
to social acts. So that there can be no doubt 
the apostle's prayer in this passage, that the 
Christians at Rome might be of the same mind 
among themselves, that with one consent (in con- 
junction), and with one mouth, they might glorify 
God, refers to their social worship. 

There are a few other passages in the New 
Testament, of less importance, relative to this sub- 
ject ; but enough surely has been adduced to prove 
that social prayer is fully sanctioned by the ex- 
ample and instructions of Christ and his apostles, 
as well as by the universal practice of Christians 
in the apostolic age. 

That social prayer is a practice to which the 
apostles and their converts were accustomed, is 
indeed so clearly and decisively proved by the 
passages which have been quoted, that it is diffi- 
cult to conceive it possible any one should doubt 
the reality of this fact, after having perused them 
with common impartiality. There is but one 
method of attempting to render this evidence nu- 
gatory ; and of that some notice has already been 
taken h ; but as it is the only reply that can be 

a offioQvpMv. See note to page 1 12, 
b Page 105 and 1 1 3 note. 



IN FAVOUR OF SOCIAL PRAYER. 125 

made. absurd as it is, it may be proper to add a 
few farther remarks on the subject. Some per- 
sons, then, have objected that, though they ad- 
mit instances of social prayer do occur in the 
New Testament, yet the extraordinary circum- 
stances in which they took place, and the mira- 
cles with which they were connected, render them 
unfit subjects for our imitation, afford no indica- 
tion of the mind of Christ, and give no sanction 
to social worship as a general practice ; nay, 
others have gone so far as to affirm without he- 
sitation, that " the prayers of the first Christians 
formed a part of the supernatural gifts ;" which 
affirmation, if it mean any thing but a quibble. 
must signify that these prayers were themselves 
supernatural gifts, that is. inspired prayers. To 
this we reply in the first place, that the whole 
force of this objection applies equally to any 
sanction or encouragement we may derive from 
the exhortations and example of Christ and his 
apostles to zeal and exertion in our endeavours 
to disseminate the pure principles of Christianity, 
either by public teaching, by writing in their de- 
fence, or by any other method; for, if we admit 
the truth of their own declarations, we have no 
doubt that the teaching of Christ and his apo- 
stles was not only accompanied by miracles, and 
took place in the most extraordinary circum- 
stances, but was itself " part of the superna- 
tural gifts." As their commission for that pur- 
pose was divine, so their qualifications were such 



126 PASSAGES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 

as no other human being has any pretensions to. 
Christ spoke in the name and with the authority 
of God : " The words that I speak unto you, I 
speak not of myself ; and the Father who abideth 
in me, he doeth the works a . The doctrines 
which I teach are not mine, but his that sent me." 
The apostles also in like manner laid claim to di- 
vine inspiration, and delivered what they taught, 
not as the word of man, but as in truth the word 
of God b ; and Christ assured them, that the com- 
forter, which the Father would send in his name, 
should teach them all things, and bring all things 
to their remembrance, whatsoever he had spoken 
unto them c ." And accordingly they, as well as 
the prophets, spoke as the spirit gave them ut- 
terance. Paul especially declared that the go- 
spel preached by him was not according to man. 
" For," says he, " I neither received it from man, 
nor was I taught it but by the revelation of Jesus 
Christ." And he says in another place, " Which 
things we speak also, not in the words which 
man's wisdom teacheth, but which the holy spi- 
rit teacheth d ." Nothing can be plainer, there- 
fore, than that the apostles lay claim to divine in. 
spiration in preaching the gospel, and conse- 
quently that their teaching, as well as that of 
Christ, was among the supernatural gifts. Of 
course then, according to the objection just stated, 
the command given to them to teach what they 

a John xiv. 10. b 1 Thess. ii. 13, 

* John xiv. 26. d Gal. I % 



IN FAVOUR OF SOCIAL PRAYER. 127 

had thus learned, and the various directions re- 
specting this important work, belong exclusively 
to them ; their zeal and fidelity in this under- 
taking afford no example to us; nor are Chris- 
tians now under any obligation either to teach in 
any way, or to hear, the great truths of the go- 
spel of Christ. So that in this manner we should 
get rid not only of social prayer, but of public 
teaching also, or of publishing the pure gospel, 
either by speaking or writing. And why not ? 
We are told that social prayer has been intro- 
duced and upheld by crafty, designing, hypocri- 
tical, worldly, ambitious, and consequently wick- 
ed men, in order to serve their own selfish pur- 
poses, and dug'fat therefore to be discoBtm^^d 

g 7, ^ /. -—•■? *■■• 

and why should not all public teaching of the 
Christian religion in any may whatever be con- 
sidered as introduced and continued by similar 
instruments, for the like unworthy purposes ? 
and if so, why should it not, for this reason, be 
abolished altogether? For does it not afford the 
most favourable opportunity of at once blinding 
the understanding, and corrupting the heart, un- 
der pretence of moral and religious instruction ? 
Nay; what reason can be given why the autho- 
rity of Christianity itself in the present day should 
not be annihilated altogether by this notable ar- 
gument ? " Christianity is founded upon miracles ; 
it was published to the world in circumstances the 
most extraordinary, and by the most singular 
means. Christianity was itself a supernatural giftj 



128 PASSAGES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 

for it was c not the word of man, but the word of 
God.' Now that miracles have ceased we have 
nothing to do with it. It ought to have been con* 
fined to the age of miracles. If it were a revela- 
tion to others, it is no revelation to us.'' And thus 
have unbelievers argued in fact. The argument, 
however, in all these cases is alike sophistical, and 
serves only to show the weakness of a cause that 
is compelled to have recourse for support to the 
shadow of a reason like this. In a word, as ob- 
served before, the whole conduct of Christ and 
his apostles in the midst of the most painful suf- 
ferings and distresses, and their benevolent and 
generous exertions for the temporal and ever- 
lasting benefit of mankind, if the force of this 
reasoning were admitted, would entirely lose 
their effect as affording an example to us. Ac- 
cording to the Scriptures, they were supernatu- 
rally assisted to endure afflictions in a manner of 
which we can have no expectation. Their per- 
severance and fortitude in the arduous and pain- 
ful duties they had to perform, were in a great 
measure the effects of divine aid to which we can 
have no pretensions, or were produced by the 
miraculous powers which have now ceased. Not- 
withstanding this, however, we still say, " Christ 
hath left us an example" expressly for this pur- 
pose, " that we should follow his steps ; end if any 
man say he abideth in him, he ought also to walk 
even as he walked." And we respect the admo- 
nition of St. Paul. " Be ye followers of me., as 



IN r.\uh R OF SOCIAL PRAYER. 189 

I am also of Christ. Those things which ye havfe 
both learned and received, and heard, and seen 
in me,, do:" and among other things that were 
excellent, both in him and in his great master 
the saviour of the world, we have seen unequi- 
vocal instances of social prayer, as well as the most 
exalted benevolence, and exemplary fortitude in 
sufferings : nor do we consider the obligation to 
imitate their example, either in the one case or 
the other, at all impaired by the supernatural 
powers imparted to them by God, or by the ex- 
traordinary circumstances in which they were 
called to act. 

To this moreover it may added, if we could see 
any reason for believing that the prayers of the 
first Christians had any thing in them superna- 
tural, then we should say, Still they were social 
prayers, and therefore social prayer has the sanc- 
tion of divine authority, and it is impossible that 
supernatural aid should have been afforded in 
the practice of a custom which Christ himself had 
discouraged and forbidden. However, we utter- 
ly deny the truth of the assertion that the prayers 
of the first Christians were a " part of the super- 
natural gifts ; ,; and we ask for proof. Where is 
the passage in which any thing like this is affirm- 
ed, or from which it can be deduced with any 
fairness of inference ? And where, moreover., 
was the necessity for the exercise of a miraculous 
power to enable them to pray? Having become 
Christians^ had they no capacity to feel and ex- 
& 5 



130 PASSAGES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 

press virtuous dispositions, and pious wishes and 
affections in their devout addresses to God, with- 
out assistance from heaven ? Is any thing done 
by a God of all knowledge and wisdom in vain ? 
Or does he interrupt the settled course of natural 
causes, and exert his power miraculously in cases 
in which there is no occasion for such interposi- 
tion, or where the most important benefits to 
mankind are not the result? 

The idea of the prayers of the first Christians 
being " part of the supernatural gifts" seems to 
have been taken up from the passage in the 14th 
chapter of the 1st epistle to the Corinthians, 
where prayers, supplications, and thanksgivings 
are indeed mentioned in company with the gift of 
speaking a foreign language a , but in which there 
is not the slightest intimation that the prayers 
themselves, which were delivered in such lan- 
guage, were in any degree supernatural. It is 
said, verse 15th, it is true, " I will pray with 
the spirit b , and I will pray with the understand- 
ing also ;" but the meaning of this is, I will pray 
spiritually, with the use of my own understand- 

* Though there is nothing in this chapter which neces- 
sarily implies that this power was supernatural, let it be 
granted, for the sake of the argument, it is probable the apo- 
stle does allude to such a gift $ for it was communicated on 
the day of Pentecost, and is enumerated among the spiritual 
gifts in the 1 2th chapter of this epistle. 

b Thus Christ observes, as remarked before, that those 
who worship God acceptably, must worship him in spirit and 
in truth ; that is, spiritually, or with the use of the under- 
standing, and sincerely. 



IN FAVOUR OF SOCIAL PRAYER. 131 

ing, and so as to be understood by others. Prayer 
is not enumerated among the spiritual gifts in the 
12th chapter, nor is it any where else mentioned 
as such. Let any one look through the instances 
of social worship that have been quoted from the 
New Testament, and try whether he can find any 
thing like a proof of this : the case, for instance, 
of St. Paul at Miletus, when he kneeled down 
as they were departing, and prayed with the com- 
pany present on that occasion ; — what indication 
is there, in this instance, of any thing superna- 
tural, or in any degree extraordinary, except in- 
deed the circumstance of the prayer being deli- 
vered in the open air be considered as such ? This 
is inconsistent with the customs of the present 
day ; but will any person seriously urge it as a 
reason why the apostle's example of social prayer 
should not be followed in more convenient cir- 
cumstances, and in places more suitable for the 
purpose I It will readily be granted that the first 
Christians might be assisted, as several passages 
of the New Testament seem to indicate, occa- 
sionally at least, in their prayers, by diyine influ- 
ence on the mind ; but this applies as much to 
their private as to their public devotions, and 
maybe employed against following their example 
€qually in the one case as the other. This, how- 
ever, is a very different thing from the social 
prayers of the first Christians being the exercise 
of a supernatural gift, of which there is a total 
want of proof, Several of the passages that 



132 PASSAGES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 

have been quoted, moreover, clearly prove that 
social prayer was the common and habitual prac* 
tice of Christians universally in their assemblies 
for religious purposes in the apostolic age ; and 
will any one be prepared to affirm that prayer 
was never used on these occasions without the 
exercise of a miraculous power ? And even if 
in any particular instances supernatural aid can 
be proved to have accompanied their public de- 
votion, still we should say, as before observed, 
that this circumstance increased rather than di* 
minished the obligation to the general practice 
of social worship, because this was an indication 
that divine approbation attended the perform- 
ance of this dutv. 

So long as the preceding passages remain in 
the New Testament, no further evidence can be 
needed, that amidst all the sufferings, hazards^ 
and uncertainties of their state> social prayer was 
from the first the common practice of the apostles 
and their converts. They met for this purpose 
when and where they could ; and there are also 
two or three passages from which it seems reason- 
able to conclude that they set apart the first day of 
the week; which they called the Lord's day, more 
particularly for religious duties, and no doubt, 
as they were so much in the habit of social wor- 
ship, for this among others a . As their numbers 
increased, which they did rapidly and exten- 
sively, they every where formed themselves into 

* John xx. 19, 26. Acts xx. 7. 1 Cor. xvi. 2. Rev. i. 9, 1$ 



IN FAVOUR OF SOCIAL PRAYER. idO 

churches, or religious societies, regularly and 
judiciously organized, for the purpose of promot- 
ing the great and benevolent objects of Christia- 
nity among themselves and others whom they 
could convince and persuade to become partakers 
of its inestimable benefits. When this was the 
case, their meetings for religious worship and 
instruction became more regular and stated ; and 
the first day of the week is more distinctly mark- 
ed as the time when these services took place. 



SECTION II, 

The Practice cf Christians immediately after the 
Apostolic Age* 

The preceding account of the state of social 
worship among the first Christians is abundantly 
confirmed by all the information that can be ob- 
tained relative to the period immediately suc- 
ceeding the apostolic age. There are various 
decisive testimonies to this effect; but the most 
important is that of Justin Martyr, whose Apo- 
logy, from which the following extract is taken, 
was written A. D. 140. w On the day called 
Sunday," says he, " there is an assembling toge- 
ther in one place of all who live in the cities or 
the country; the records of the apostles a , or the 

a Td d , 7ro i u,vY) l uoi'£Vfi,!x,Tc& T601/ d-Trofo^oiu. This is no more 
the title of a particular book, than the "writings of the 
^prophets" is. The " records of the apostles," or the me- 



134 THE PRACTICE OF CHRISTIANS 

writings of the prophets, are read, as time per- 
mits. When the reader has finished, the presi- 
dent delivers a discourse, admonishing the peo- 
ple, and exhorting them to copy in their conduct 
the excellent things which they have heard \ Then 
we all rise together and pray ; and, when we have 
ceased praying, bread and wine and water are 
brought; and the president in like manner offers 
up prayers and thanksgivings, according to his 
ability b , and the people express their concurrence 
by saying Amen c . Then all who are present par- 
take of the elements, which are distributed among 
them and sent to the absent by the deacons." 

In the passage already quoted d from Tertul- 
lian, who, like Justin, flourished immediately 
after the age of the apostles, about the year 160, 
we have another testimony equally decisive to the 
zeal and fervour with which Christians came toge- 
ther in crowded assemblies for the purpose of so- 
cial prayer. And we may add, the celebrated 
letter of Pliny to Trajan affords unexceptionable 
evidence of the same fact, that Christians were 

morable transactions, discourses, &c. recorded by them, may 
include not only the historical parts of the New Testament, 
but the epistles" also ; in other words, the whole of the New 
Testament. 

a TlgoxXrpiv Tv}$ rm x,a,7,a>» rarcou fii^aeayg. The idea is 
evidently that these Christians were exho.rted to exhibit in 
their conduct a copy or resemblance of whatever was morally 
excellent or beautiful in what they had heard read. 

b "Oo-tf Ivvctpig aura, and consequently his prayers were 
extemporaneous 

* Apol. I. par. 87, p. 131. EcL Oxon. 1700.. 

A See note to page 123. 



AFTER THE APOSTOLIC AGE. 135 

in the habit of meeting together on a certain 
day, at that time, early in the morning, through 
fear, no doubt, of their persecutors, for the pur- 
pose of social worship, though it was very natural 
for him to be mistaken concerning the object of 
their adoration, since he had never been present in 
their assemblies, and would readily consider them 
as practising idolatry, though in a form very dif- 
ferent from that which he had been accustomed 
to witness. 

Speedily after the death of the apostles, then, 
we have proof which no one will venture to dis- 
pute, that the followers of Christ regularly assem- 
bled, both in the cities and surrounding country, 
on the first day of the week, for the purpose of 
religious services, which consisted of reading 
the Scriptures, exhortations, the Lord's Supper, 
prayers and thanksgivings, conducted by one in- 
dividual, and in which the people joined. The 
question therefore occurs, How came it to pass, 
in so short a time after the death of the apo- 
stles, some of whom it is possible at least might 
have been personally known to individuals 
then living, that social prayer had become the 
stated and universal practice in their religious 
assemblies on the first day of the week, if this 
custom had received no sanction from the ex- 
ample and instructions of the apostles, if Christ 
himself had expressly forbidden it, and if the first 
converts to his religion, who had the best means 
of becoming acquainted with his will on the sub- 



136 RELIGIOUS SERVICES OF C HRlStlANS, 

ject, had lived in the general neglect of it ? Did 
it spring- up every where in Justin's time on a 
sudden ? And were heathen converts especially 
brought over instantly to a habit so different from 
all they had been accustomed to 5 if they had no 
wan ant for it in the new religion which they had 
adopted ? No person surely will have credulity 
enough to believe this a * 

SECTION IIL 

The Resemblance between the religious Service? 
in the first Christian Assemblies, and those of 
ancient Synagogues. 

So evident is it that social worship was the 

a Nothing has been said in these pages en the subject of 
singing in the religious assemblies of the first Christians, or 
of the~Synagogue, because, as it was sufficient to prove that 
prayer, which constitutes the chief part of public worship, 
was their usual and habitual practice on these occasions, it 
was desirable not to add unnecessarily to the length of this 
little work. Singing, besides, was not only a subordinate part 
of these services, but was less suitable to the circumstances 
of danger and persecution with which the first Christians were 
surrounded, than prayer; and for these reasons we should 
not expect to meet so frequently with reference in the New 
Testament to the practice of it among them. Notwithstand* 
ing this, however, there are several passages which are suf- 
ficient to show that singing was in common use among them, 
as, Matt. xxvi. 30 ; i Cor. xiv. 15, 26 ; Eph. v. 18, 19 ; CoL 
iii. 16: James v. 13. Singing, moreover, is in its own na- 
ture a social exercise. Few persons would be disposed to 
sing alone in their closets ; and if the first Christians sang at 
all, it would be, of course, in society. After the apostolic 
age it is also certain that this useful and exhilarating prac- 
tice was continued regularly and universally. 



AND OF THE SYNAGOGUE, COMPARED. 137 

common practice of Christians in the apostolic 
age, that it has been maintained by those who 
have investigated the subject with the greatest 
care, that the Jewish Synagogue furnished the 
model by which their religious services, as well 
as the general constitution of their churches, 
were formed. One object of Vitringa's ela- 
borate and valuable work on the Ancient Syn- 
agogue was to prove this. And though the re- 
semblance was certainly not designed, nothing 
could be more likely to take place. The great 
founder of the Christian religion, though he 
showed his approbation of social worship by his 
practice, and by the encouragement which he 
gave it, left no specific direction concerning the 
mode in which it should be conducted, enjoining 
only that it should be free from ostentation and 
hypocrisy, and assuring his followers that not a 
multitude of forms and ceremonies, but sincerity 
and truth alone, would render their religious ser- 
vices acceptable to God. The method of prayer, 
as well as the regulations to be adopted in their 
religious societies, he left, in a great measure^ as 
matters of discretion and expediency, to be modi- 
fied and determined by circumstances, as prudence 
and sound judgment should direct, without allow- 
ing one, or any number of individuals, in the Chris- 
tian community, to assume pre-eminence over 
others. Having this liberty, sacred and inviola- 
ble as it ought ever to be, the first converts to 
his religion, guided by the powerful influence of 
habit, if they were constituted like other men, 



138 RELIGIOUS SERVICES OF CHRISTIANS, 

would naturally be disposed to carry into their 
new profession whatever there might be in the 
mode of worship to which they had been accus- 
tomed that was consistent with the liberal and 
rational principles which they had adopted ; and 
the first instruments of its propagation being Jews, 
who had been in the habit of attending the reli- 
gious services of the Temple and the Synagogue 
with great regularity, they would be inclined, as 
a matter of course, to transfer the Jewish method 
of prayer and praise into their new societies, 
especially as their master had given them a war- 
rant for this by his attendance upon that worship. 
But the Gentile Christians, having nothing in their 
ancient superstitions that could be substituted 
jfat them, would readily talke these services as 
they found them among the Jewish converts, 
without attempting any innovations of their own, 
except perhaps as to the object of their worship. 
And accordingly, from all the sources of informa- 
tion relative to this subject that remain, there is 
every reason to believe this to have been the case. 
Whoever has perused Vitringa on this subject, 
cannot fail to be convinced that in the worship 
of the early Christians and that of the Synagogue, 
though in some instances there were considerable 
variations, yet, in all the most essential parti- 
culars the resemblance was singularly exact and 
striking. He states first the instances of corre- 
spondence between the services of the Temple 
and those of the Synagogue, showing from ancient 
Jewish writers that all the religious services of 



AND OF THE SYNAGOGUE, COMPARED. 139 

the latter were observed in the former ; such as 
prayer, the reading of the law, and teaching the 
people from the Scriptures, whilst the sacrifices, 
the burning of incense, and the Levitical music, 
belonged exclusively to the Temple. And though 
the mode of prayer was different, yet in both 
places it was social. As the worship of the Syna- 
gogue was more rational, conducted with greater 
simplicity, more liberal, and better adapted to 
general use, than that of the Temple, so the wor- 
ship in use among Christians in all these respects 
was a still further improvement. They had no 
forms but the Lord's prayer, which, after the 
apostolic age at least, they appear frequently to 
have repeated in their religous assemblies. But 
in other instances the resemblance was preserv- 
ed a . The worship of both was equally social ; 

a In his Prolegomena, cap. i. p. 3, is the following pas- 
sage : — " In cultu templi et synagogarum oceurrunt ritus 
quidam et ceremonies, iis ad omnia similes, quas in sacris nos- 
tris observare licet. Si enim animum advertamus ad lectionem 
legis, psalmodiam, conciones, preces, benedictiones, aliosqne 
sacros, constat utique, eos non minus apud veteres Judseos 
quam nunc apud Christianos usu receptos fuisse. Quod qui 
attenta mente con^iderat, quid ilii magis in proclivi est quam 
cogitare de communi horum sacrorum origine ? 

" In Templo et Synagogis fuerunt sacrarum rerum prae- 
fecti et ministri ratione officiorum, (imo et nominum,) cum iis 
comparandi, qui in ecclesiis prsesident iisque ministeria ex- 
hibent. Quapropter jure quseiitur, quae sit hujus conveni- 
ent^ ratio, aut esse possit? 

iC Praecipuam hie meretur animadversionem, quod non tan- 
tum officiates et consuetudines sacrorum conventuum Christi- 
anorum et Judaicorum plurimis partibus inter se consentiunt, 
sed quod ipsi Scriptores sacri ecclesiam Christianorum ejusque 
prcefectos, ministros et consuetudines iisdem subinde normni- 



140 frELIGIOUS SERVICES OF CHRISTIANS, 

cons^iing of prayers, thanksgivings and henedio 
lion's, delivered by one in the name of the rest ; 
and it is acknowledged by all, says Vitringa a , 
that the church received from the Synagogue the 
response. Amen, to the prayer pronounced by the 
person who conducted these services. He also 
remarks, it merits attention, that not only do the 
offices and customs of the Christians and Jewish 
assemblies for public worship agree in most par- 
ticulars, but the sacred writers themselves make 
use of the same names and phrases by which to 
distinguish the different ministers of the Christian 
church, and to describe the duties of their re- 
spective offices, as those by which the ancient as 
well as modern Jews were accustomed to designate 
their religious ceremonies and the officers who 
presided over them. Both in the Synagogue and 
the Christian church we have pastors, teachers, 
wise men, elders, presidents or overseers, rulers, 
leaders, angels b of the church, and deacons: and 

bus, vocibus, et phrasibus, exprimant, quibus Judaei suas per- 
sonas et ceremouias sacras, vel olim designare soliti sunt, vel 
nunc etiam hodieque designant," &c. Then follows his enu- 
meration of the officers of both services, and the duties attach- 
ed to their stations, which so exactly correspond. In his 
Prolegomena he enumerates the points of resemblance between 
the Hebrew and Christian mode of worship, as well as the 
constitution of their religious societies, and the body of his 
work is employed in adducing the proofs. 

a Lib. iii. pars 3. cap. xix. p. 1100. 

b This appellation was given, as observed before, to the mi- 
nister of the Synagogue who recited the prayers in the name of 
the people, and to the Israelites of the station in the Temple, 
who were always present there at the time of the daily sacri- 
fices to offer up their prayers in the name of the people ; but 



AND OF Till: SYNAGOGUE, COMPARED. MI 

the duties which they performed, or superin- 
tended, were thanksgivings, benedictions, read- 
ing, interpretation, teaching, exhortation, feed- 
ing the church, singing, and prayer with the re- 
sponse, Amen. And he adds, what appears to 
be a remarkable coincidence, the precepts whidh 
the teachers of the Jews give respecting the duties 
required of the various officers of the Synagogue 
scarcely differ in the slightest degree from those 
which the apostle Paul delivers in cases of a 
similar kind in the Christian church a . 

it is also applied in the Scriptures to the priests and Levites. 
See Deut. xxx. 13 ; Mai. iii. 7» So likewise we read of the 
angels of the seven churches (Rev. ii. 1, 8, J 2, &cJ), who 
were the overseers, the presidents,, or ministers of those 
churches. For notices of the other officers see also the fol- 
lowing passages : — Pastors, Eph. iv. 11. Teachers, Rom. 
xii. 7 ', 1 Col. xii. 28 ; Eph. iv. 1 1 ; Heb. xiii. 7- Wise men, 
1 Cor vi. 5, xii, 23. Elders, Acts xiv. 22, xv. 2, 22, xx. 17, 
xxi. 18; 1 Tim. v. 1, 17; Titus i. 5; 1 Pet. v. <1 ; James v. 14. 
Overseers, or bishops, who were elders, Acts xx. 17, &c,; 
1 Tim. iii . J ; Phil. i. 1; Titus i. 6. Rulers, or leaders, IThess. 
v. 12, 13; 1 Tim. v. 17; Heb. xiii. 7, 17; Rom. xv. 14, xii. 7, 
8; 1 Cor. xii. 28. Deacons, Acts vi, 1, 2, &c; Phii. i. 1; 
1 Tim. iii. 4. 

a Christian churches were also sometimes called Syna- 
gogues, as in James ii. 2 : " If these come into your assembly^ 
&c. the original is synagogue. As the Jewish synagogues 
were used for holding courts of justice, especially upon eccle- 
siastical affairs, as well as for public worship, Dr. Whitby and 
Dr. Jennings \see his Jewish Antiquities, vol. ii. p. 64) 
think that it is to this use of them St. James alludes here. 
But this is in the highest degree improbable; for the apostle 
is addressing Christians, and*not Jews; nor can any thing be 
plainer from the whole passage, than that he is here speaking 
of Christian and not of Jewish places of worship. It is also 
highly probable, that the ancient synagogues themselves, 
when the Jews that assembled in them became Christians, 
were used as places of Christian worship. 



142 RELIGIOUS SERVICES OF CHRISTIANS, 

Such then are the important and essential 
points of resemblance between the worship of the 
Synagogue and of the early Christian churches, 
as well as their general constitution, proved to 
have existed by a writer to whose competency to 
form a correct judgement in this case, by his 
thorough investigation of the subject, united to 
profound erudition and persevering industry, few 
persons now, if any, will pretend. It may well 
be inquired, therefore, Whence did all these in- 
stances of similarity originate ? In the imitation 
of the Christians by the Jews ? As well might it 
be expected that the inhabitants of Greenland 
should voluntarily clothe themselves in the dress 
of the equatorial regions. Certainly the bitter 
hatred which the Jews from the first have always 
borne the Christian name, and every thing belong- 
ing to it, would lead them to stand as far aloof >as 
possible from any customs that had resemblance 
to Christian innovation, and Christian peculiari- 
ties. This inveterate and implacable enmity was 
introduced even into their prayers ; for they had 
one by which they devoted all Christians to de- 
struction, and which they were accustomed to 
repeat every sabbath in their synagogues. But 
at the same time when Jews, by the powerful 
operation of the miraculous evidence of the truth 
of Christianity, became converts, a change which 
was fitly compared to a new birth, still, from habit 
and strong predilection for their ancient customs, 
they would inevitably be inclined to introduce as 



AND OF THE SYNAGOGUE, COMPARED. 143 

much of their former modes of worship into their 
new profession as was not inconsistent with its 
requisitions; whilst converts from Paganism, un- 
der the mild and benevolent influence of Chris- 
tian principles, would have no prejudices against 
this worship to encounter, as they had nothing of 
a similar kind to substitute in its room. It would 
have been strange had it been otherwise. And 
accordingly we find from the espistles of Paul, that 
such was in reality the fact ; for so strong were the 
ancient prejudices of the converts from Judaism^ 
that one of the greatest difficulties he had to en- 
counter was to convince them that the observ- 
ance of the Mosaic rites was not essential to the 
enjoyment of Christian privileges; though on the 
subject of social worship he says nothing discou- 
raging to the practice of it ; for this was not pecu- 
liar to the Mosaic in&titute, and had he done so, 
his own practice would have been liable to the 
censure. Hence therefore the resemblance be- 
tween the worship of the Synagogue and that of 
the first Christians is such as might have been 
reasonably expected, and of the reality of it there 
can be no doubt. 



The sum of the whole, then, is this : — That the 
advocates for social prayer have as much right 
as its opponents to express their convictions on 
this, or any other religious topic, without being 
liable to suspicion or to insult, is unquestionable; 



144 CONCLUSION. 

nor can any purpose be served by abuse and 
scurrility, but to injure the cause which they 
may be intended to support. Their conviction 
therefore is, that public worship or social prayer 
is sanctioned in the clearest manner by reason, 
since it is perfectly congenial with the social 
nature of man ; with his best feelings, propen- 
sities, and wishes, together with the circuin- 
stances in which he is placed, which all connect 
him with society, as well as with the relation in 
which he stands to his Creator, whose bounties 
he shares and whose favours he needs in com- 
mon with the rest of his species. Were his na- 
ture solitary, like that of some of the brute crea^ 
tion, we should then say, Let him bury himself, 
like them, in retirement, and in nothing seek 
communion with others : but so long as his dis- 
positions, his wants, and his situation in the 
world, connect him inseparably with others, his 
religious duties, as well as the rest, become 
social ; nor can any thing be more proper and 
becoming than the general offering of humble 
prayer and praise to the general benefector. The 
religious and moral benefits of such a practice we 
consider as most important. It contributes per- 
haps more than any thing else to the influence of 
religious principle on society at large ; and whilst 
it gives strength to the habits of private devotion, 
it has a direct tendency to cherish and increase 
a spirit of benevolence and sympathy with others, 
especially in their sufferings; an advantage which 



CONCLUSION. 145 

prayer in the closet does not possess in an equal 
degree. All the charities of life are the proper 
fruits of general association in rendering homage 
to the beneficent Father of the human race ; nor is 
it credible that any one who habitually joins with 
others in the practice of this duty, should be totally 
insensible to the additional obligation under which 
he is laid thereby to abstain from whatever would 
bring discredit on his Christian profession. We 
readily admit that it is liable to be perverted and 
misapplied. Asitisapowerfulinstrumentofgood, 
so is it of evil also, though in an inferior degree ; 
for the best things are subject to the greatest 
abuse. But this is equally true of public teach- 
ing in any way, as well as of every other religious 
and moral duty; and if we are to reject any prac- 
tice, because it has been abused and perverted to 
evil purposes, we shall retain nothing that is ex- 
cellent and good. To argue against public wor- 
ship appears to us to be opposing the best in- 
terests, — the morals, the civilization, the good 
order of society, the present and eternal welfare 
of mankind. The dispute seems to -resolve itself 
into the question, Whether religion be the friend 
or enemy of man : and as we have no doubt that 
religion is of the first importance to his wel- 
fare, inasmuch as it is the best and only sure 
foundation of universal virtue^ we are of opi- 
nion that the efforts of the opponents of so- 
cial worship are aimed, and aimed only, at what 
is most valuable to the human race. Hence this 

H 



116 CONCLUSION. 

duty has the sanction of antiquity, as well as 
of all modern practice among Christians. The 
Hebrews, from the infancy of their nation, were 
accustomed to it. Prayer was a companion of 
sacrifice. It formed a part of their worship in 
the Temple, the whole of which was public and 
social. From the Temple it was transferred to 
the Synagogue, where, as there was no sacrifice, 
it formed the chief part of their religious services, 
and was offered in a form the most social that can 
be devised. These services Christ himself and his 
apostles regularly attended, and by this means at 
least expressed, their approbation of social wor- 
ship in some form or other, leaving the use of 
liturgies or free prayer to the discretion and 
judgement of the worshiper. Besides this, in- 
stances are mentioned in the gospels, in which 
Christ on other occasions prayed in society, and 
there are some in which his approbation of this 
custom is implied. Various passages have also 
been quoted, which prove that social prayer was 
the common and habitual practice of the apostles 
and first Christians in general ; and from the unex- 
ceptionable testimony of the earliest and most re- 
spectable writers immediately succeeding the 
apostolic age, it is also indisputable that in their 
time this custom universally prevailed in the 
Christian churches. The manner in which it 
was conducted bore a striking resemblance to that 
of the Synagogue, which shows its origin to have 
been from thence. From that time to this it has 



CONCLUSION. 147 

continued to be the uniform practice of Chris- 
tians of all parties, however opposite in other 
instances their opinions, and whatever may have 
been their animosities. It has therefore the clear 
sanction of the religion we profess, not less than 
of reason. It has grown with the growth of 
Christianity ; has accompanied with equal steps 
its progress through the civilized world ; and 
so long as this pure and benevolent system 
of faith and practice shall retain its hold on the 
minds of mankind, we have no fear of its decline. 
To endeavour to root it out from society, or per- 
ceptibly diminish the numbers that attend upon 
it, is an attempt as idle and fruitless as shooting 
straws against a rock> or trying to overturn a 
mountain with a lever. 



APPENDIX. 



No. 1. 

j\S the Mishnah and Talmudical writers have been men- 
tioned in the preceding Treatise, the following account of 
both may be acceptable to readers who have not had an oppor- 
tunity of attending to these subjects. 

The Mishnah arose out of the following circumstances : The 
Jews had a tradition that Moses just before his death deli- 
vered to the people, not only thirteen copies of the written 
law, but numerous interpretations of it, which they called the 
oral law ; and which they said was delivered down with great 
care by Joshua to the elders that followed him, who delivered 



148 



APPENDIX. 



it again to the prophets, till it came at length to Ezraand the 
members of the great Synagogue, &c. But the truth of the 
matter is, says Prideaux, that after the death of Simon the 
Just, 292 years before Christ, there arose a sort of men 
called the Mishnacal Doctors, who made it their business to 
study and descant upon those traditions which had been re- 
ceived and allowed by Ezra and the men of the great Syna- 
gogue, and who drew inferences of consequence from them, all 
which they had ingrafted into the body of their ancient tradi- 
tions, as if they had been as authentic as the others ; which 
example being followed by those who succeeded them in this 
profession, they continually added their own imaginations to 
what they had received from those who went before them, 
whereby these traditions became like a great snow-ball, — the 
further they rolled from one generation to another, the more 
they gathered, and the greater the bulk of them grew. And 
thus it went on to the middle of the second century after 
Christ, when Antoninus Pius governed the Roman empire ; 
by which time they found it necessary to put all these tradi- 
tions into writing, for they were grown so numerous that it 
became no longer possible for the human memory to retain 
them. This work was assigned to, and executed by, Rabbi 
Judah, called Hakkadash, that is holy, who was then rector 
of their school at Tiberias in Galilee, and president of the 
Sanhedrim which sat at that place. He undertook and com- 
piled this work in six books, each consisting of several tracts, 
in all sixty-three ; and in which, under proper heads, was 
arranged all that had been delivered to them of their law and 
their religion by their ancestors. This is the book called the 
Mishnah. This book has always been held in the highest 
veneration by the Jews, as of equal or even superior authority 
to the Scriptures. It immediately became the study of all 
their learneo^Jmen ; and the chief of them, both in Judea and 
Babylonia, employed themselves in making comments upon 
it ; and these comments, together with the Mishnah itself, 
make up both the Talmuds ; that is, the Jerusalem and the 
Babylonian Talmud. The comments they call the Gamara, 
that is, the Complement. The Jerusalem Talmud was com- 
pleted about the year of our Lord 300, and is published in 
one large folio. The Babylonian Talmud was published about 
200 years afterwards, in the beginning of the sixth century. 
The last edition, published at Amsterdam, is in twelve folios. 
This latter is that which is chiefly followed by them, on 



APPENDIX. 149 

account of the obscurity of the other. These are the most 
ancient books the Jews have, except the Chaldee Paraphrase 
of Onkelos and Jonathan, written about the year 145, and 
both of them in the language and style of Judea. Out of the 
Babylonian Talmud Maimonides has made an abstract, con- 
taining only the resolutions and determinations made therein 
on every case, without the descants, disputes, fables, and other 
trash, under which they lay buried in a load of rubbish. This 
is one of the completest digests of the law ever made ; and 
for this and other of his writings, he is deservedly esteemed 
the best writer among them. Prideaux's Connexion, part i. 
book v. p. 325. We are justified, therefore, in saying that the 
Mishnah, having been compiled about the year of Christ 150, — 
though containing a collection of absurd and fabulous tradi- 
tions, — in a matter of fact, like that of the antiquity of the 18 
prayers, is sufficient authority. And if these prayers were old 
established forms about 120 years after the death of Christ, 
there can be no doubt of their being in use during his life. 

No. 2. 

. The following translation of the prayer f* Cadish" may 
also be acceptable to the English reader. 

Let his great name be magnified and hallowed in the world 
which he hath created according to his own good pleasure, 
and may he cause his kingdom to rule. May his redemption 
flourish, and may his Messiah suddenly come, and deliver his 
people in your life and in your days, and in the life of all the 
house of Israel, and that very speedily. And say ye, Amen, 
Amen, let his great name be blessed for eyer and ever. Let 
his name be celebrated, and his memorial exalted perpetually, 
and to all eternity. Celebrated, praised, honoured, exalted, 
lifted up, reverenced, extolled, and proclaimed be the name 
of the Holy and Blessed One, far above all blessing, and 
singing, and praise, and gratulation, that are used in the world. 
And say ye, Amen. Receive our prayers with mercy and 
favour. Let the prayers and desires of all Israel be accepted 
before their Father who is in heaven ; and say ye, Amen. Let 
the name of the Lord be blessed from this time even for ever. 
Let great peace from heaven, and life, be upon us and upon 
Israel ; and say ye, Amen. 

I 



150 



OMISSIONS. 

The following passages were omitted in their proper place ; 
but, as they are very much to the purpose, they are inserted 
here. They should have been added to the note ending on 
page 134. 

In the preceding paragraph (lxxxvi) indeed there is an 
explanation of Justin's meaning; for he says, " The apostles in 
the records written by them, (sv rolg yivopkvoig inc oivtcou dm- 
ftsr/iftovev/aoiM,) which are called the Gospels, have informed 
us that Jesus, when he had taken the bread, and given 
thanks, commanded them, saying, Do this in remembrance 
of me," &c. With these gospels he was well acquainted ; 
for he makes many quotations from them in the former part 
of his work. 

In the paragraph preceding this (ixxxv), moreover, the 
account which he gives of the manner in which converts were 
received into the Christian community, affords another in- 
stance in proof of the perfectly social nature of their religious 
worship. " Having been baptized, the new believer," he ob- 
serves, " is introduced to the Christian brethren where they 
are gathered together to offer up their united prayers (x,otva$ 
kv%oig)>" &c. When these prayers are finished, the Lord's 
supper is administered, at which the president again offers 
prayers and thanksgivings, in which the people, he says, sig- 
nify their concurrence by saying Amen. And he adds " Now 
Amen, in the Hebrew dialect, is used to signify So be it 
(to ysvoiTo GYificiiusi) :" — an unanswerable proof, if any were 
needed, that this word was used by the first Christians at the 
end of prayers, in the same sense as at present, and that no- 
thing could be more strictly social than their mode of worship. 

Page 61, line 4, after " Prideaux" add (< and Vitringa," and 
strike out s from the end of "endeavours." 



THE END. 



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